It Started With A Kiss, It Ended With A Kiss
by MizJoely
Summary: Takes up where the series left off minus Zuko demanding to know about his mother, which is a whole nother story. Slight Kataang & Maiko...VERY slight. Then totally Zutara. Epilogue now up!
1. Kiss Him Good Bye

**Part One: (Na Na Hey Hey) Kiss Him Goodbye**

He didn't know when she was kissing him, that she was kissing him good-bye.

He was too enraptured by the sweetness he tasted, by the softness of her lips, the feel of her hand on his shoulder as she leaned down to press her mouth ever so gently against his.

He should have known better, the bitter heart inside him whispered. He should have sensed it, the farewell taste and feel of her lips.

Two years, not much of a difference in ages. Or maybe not much of a difference if they'd been older, not thirteen and fifteen but eighteen and twenty, or twenty-two and twenty-four, or even sixteen and eighteen if he was honest with himself.

More honest than he'd been that day, that magical, wonderful day.

The day she kissed him good-bye even while he exulted to himself that things were finally starting, that it was a wonderful beginning for the two of them, the past behind them and the future just starting.

Then she'd broken the spell by saying the words, by pulling back, her luminous blue eyes gone sad and distant, a frown puckering the skin between her eyebrows. Even a tear trying to force itself free of the prison of her eyes as she blinked rapidly to keep it in check. "I'm sorry."

That was all she said, two words that confused him for a moment until he understood. She was sorry about the kiss.

He tried to doubt her, to make himself believe that he was misunderstanding her, but he knew, oh, he knew all right. And when she spoke again he knew for sure, no chance of fooling himself when she continued: "I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have kissed you, not like that, like there's something more between us than being friends."

She continued speaking, but he couldn't hear her, not clearly, as she rambled on about being caught up in the moment and giving in to a momentary weakness, a desire to please him even if it wasn't something she wanted for herself. They were all half-drunk on success and the satisfaction of seeing Zuko crowned Fire Lord and his speech promising reparations and reconciliation and an end, finally, to the war that had been going on for far too long, too many years and decades.

Then she was gone, walking at first, then running, finally allowing her tears to fall, and he allowed himself a good cry as well.

Because that kiss was good-bye to any hopes he had for a future with her, a future holding more than friendship and comradeship and all the other stupid ship words except the one he wanted: relationship.

She didn't love him, not the way he loved her, and she'd just told him, in so many words spoken and unspoken, that she never would.

"I love you like a brother," her Ember Island actress counterpart had declaimed, while the woman (!) playing him added: "As it should be," in self-satisfied tones.

Because, like Katara, the rest of the world couldn't see him as more than a little boy when it came to emotions, never mind that he was also the Avatar, that he was also the master of the four major Bending techniques as well as the lesser-known Spirit Bending, Energy Bending, whatever the sages and philosophers wanted to call it. In spite of everything he'd learned and accomplished, to the wider world he was still a boy who couldn't possibly understand the meaning of true love, not yet, not for many years to come.

The wider world, and Katara.

Katara, who would never feel the same love for him that he did for her.

He opened his glider and flew away, needing to be alone with his misery as never before.

**oOo**

"Don't ever try to break up with me again."

Mai's words rang through Zuko's memory as clearly as if she was speaking them again. He'd kissed her so eagerly after his crowning, after his speech and the speeches that followed, after the diplomacy and the public celebrations of the formal end of the Fire Nation war.

He'd meant it, that kiss, was eager for the taste of her lips after having abstained for so long, but when it ended…something was wrong. Something was different, and he hoped he succeeded in hiding it from her, that distressing realization.

The realization that it wasn't Mai he wanted to be kissing.

It hit him hard, a gut-punch that took his breath away, although not in the literal sense, of course, or she would have noticed something was wrong, would have questioned him and forced him to concoct some kind of lie to soothe her.

When had this happened, when had his feelings changed so completely? And how had it happened without him realizing it? Was it when she saved his life after his sister nearly killed him? When he threw himself in the lightning bolt's path without hesitation because the thought of Katara's death was so much more painful than the thought of his own? Before then? After?

He couldn't answer the question no matter how hard he tried. All he could do was tell himself it was crazy, that they were too different, that he was the Fire Lord now and expected to marry a suitable Fire Nation noblewoman and produce suitable Fire Nation babies to be heir to the throne and follow in his footsteps when he was gone.

A suitable Fire Nation lady like Mai, with impeccable credentials and family connections and an understanding of what would be expected of her when someday they wed and started in on producing those suitable Fire Nation heirs.

When had that thought ever disgusted him as much as it did now?

And how was he going to break up with her after tacitly agreeing not to, without starting a feud between her family and him?

With a growled curse he slammed the drapes shut and stalked over to his bed. The moon wasn't helping, all it did was make him think of _her_ and how shocked and unhappy she'd be if he ever let her know how his feelings for her had changed.

Either way, whether he kept those feelings to himself or declared them (_Hah! Fat chance of that!_ his mind mocked him silently), he had decisions to make and even though he had some small amount of time—no one seriously expected him to be married at seventeen and so soon after ascending the throne—he felt as if he had no time at all, because the hard decisions would have to be made now.

Mai or Katara? Head or heart? Declaration of love or permanent silence?

Sometimes, Zuko concluded as he buried his head under a pillow, life really sucked.

**oOo**

Mai was floating. She'd spent so much of her life bottling up her emotions like she was going to sell them at market sometime in the future, so much time being what everyone else wanted and expected of her that it was impossible for her to do as her inner self wanted and dance down the corridor to her rooms. Dance and sing, wave her arms and kiss everyone she passed, on cheek or forehead but not on lips, no, lips were reserved for one man and one man only.

"Don't ever break up with me again," she'd mock-warned Zuko before pulling him into that fabulous, long-awaited kiss. But she meant it; no more doing things "for her own good," not if she had any say in the matter.

Which, she thought smugly as she entered her room, she did. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, finally allowing a broad, triumphant smile to emerge from her tightly closed lips. Closing her eyes, clasping her hands to her breast, she relived the moment again and again until dizziness overcame her and she gave in to the urge to dance, pirouetting her way across the room until she collapsed on the bed in gales of delighted, wondering laughter.

No one would recognize her now, not her friends or family, especially her mother. Mother would collapse in a faint to see her quiet, composed, perfect daughter twirling and giggling like a giddy five-year-old with too much in the way of birthday sweets rushing sugary disorder through her veins.

Zuko hadn't immediately told her he loved her, but that was too be expected. They weren't even eighteen yet, either of them, and although the Fire Lord could certainly marry whomever he chose whenever he chose, she knew Zuko would honor tradition and not take a bride until he'd passed his majority. Nor, she decided after a moment's cursory deliberation, would he take an underage bride, so that meant another year after he turned eighteen. But surely he'd announce the betrothal before then? Let the people and councilors and Fire Sages know he'd already made his choice?

She kicked off her sandals and threw hairpins to the floor with gay abandon, giggling at the thought of the shocked expression on the housemaid when she saw the uncharacteristic mess the next morning. Let her wonder, the silly thing; she would have something interesting to gossip about with the other servants for a change.

Curling up in the middle of the bed, hugging a pillow to her chest, Mai lost herself in daydreams of her future as the Fire Lady, as Zuko's wife, until sleep finally claimed her and the daydreams became true dreams, filled with kisses as sweet as the one she savored in memory from earlier that evening.

**oOo**

Why oh why had she kissed him? What had possessed her?

Still sobbing, Katara found a quiet corner in a musty storeroom at the palace's lowest level, where she could reasonably expect to be left in peace.

Peace. Hah. Left in turmoil was more like it. She'd done something so monumentally stupid, kissing Aang, practically feeling his hopes rising every second she allowed the kiss to continue, then pulling herself away and stammering awkward apologies and attempts at explanations and finally running off instead of staying and facing the mess she'd created.

She hadn't meant the kiss to be anything more than an overture of friendship, a confirmation of what they already shared, but he'd turned his head and she'd placed her hand on his shoulder and suddenly the kiss had become something it was never meant to be.

A kiss that had aroused hopes that were never meant to be, either. "Stupid!" she berated herself as she slumped in a corner, knees huddled to her chest, hands tugging agitatedly at her hair.

Gradually she calmed down, forced herself to replay the moment not to torture herself, although it accomplished that aim quite nicely, thank you, but to make her analyze her actions. Why had she done it?

"Who were you really kissing, Katara?" she asked herself, and the question stilled her. Who had she really been kissing? Certainly not Aang. She was fond of him, loved him, even, but not in the way he wanted her to. Never in _that_ way, boy-girl, man-woman, happily ever after and a wedding after a suitable time had passed. But she'd wanted to kiss…someone.

She shied away from telling herself who she really wanted to kiss, because that meant examining _why_ she wanted to kiss him, and that was a whole other can of roach-worms she did _not_ want to open.

"I'm such an idiot," she moaned, feeling the tears threatening to overflow once again. And she was, because she'd hurt Aang by being swept up in the romance of the moment. Not the romance of being with him, poor boy, but the romance of having reached their goals. The war was over, or at least ending, the Avatar was safe from the dangers and threats that had plagued him ever since she and Sokka found him in that ice berg, and Zuko was…

Zuko. There it was, the name her mind shied away from even as her heart cried out in triumph. Zuko. _That_ was who she wanted to be kissing.

And wouldn't Mai have a few choice words to say about _that_ if she ever found out. And Sokka, oh how her brother would rant and rave at her. Sure he'd mellowed about Zuko but not _that_ much. And what would her father think, Toph, Zuko himself? Surely he'd find it awkward, to say the least, if Katara were to admit to him that she wanted to kiss and be kissed by him.

Surely he'd laugh?

* * *

_A/N: OK, anyone who's reading my other Zutara stories "After the Happily Ever After" and "In Time of War," please don't heap abuse on me. This is one of those shameless plot bunnies that wouldn't stop bugging me until I got it down on paper...and I've several chapters already finished so I'll be posting them fairly swiftly. I am also still working on the other stories, I promise. R&R if you like it so far!_


	2. Kiss the Rain

**Part Two: Kiss the Rain**

She should have kissed him when she saved his life, after _he'd_ saved _her_ life. If he didn't want her kisses, at least she'd already know it and have a memory to savor. She could simply have attributed the kiss to the emotion of the moment and that would have been the end of it, if he wanted it to be.

That was the problem in starting any relationship: not knowing if the other person would welcome your advances or if they would try and let you down gently or if they would be repulsed and show it.

No, she'd missed her chance, lost her opportunity. "Katara, quit hiding and go to your room," she scolded herself, forcing her legs to straighten and her arms to push her body up from the cold stone floor. She was stiff from sitting there for over an hour, feeling sorry for herself and being a miserable coward. Time to face up to the facts; she wanted what she couldn't have and didn't want what had been offered.

When she emerged from the cellars the palace wasn't exactly dark, but there were fewer torches lit and the corridors seemed empty so she hurried to her room, getting lost and having to backtrack only once before she finally reached her door. She pushed it open then swung it shut behind her, leaning against it and letting out a sigh of relief.

"Where've you been?"

Katara cried out in startlement, automatically taking a Water Bending stance as she whirled away from the door. A light flared and she yelped again as she realized it was Sokka, sitting at the small table by her window. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, sis, but you scared me! I was looking all over for you!" He peered past her as if expecting someone else to be behind her. "You haven't seen Aang, have you? I can't find him, either."

How long had she been sitting in that cellar? "Is it that late? I'm sorry, I just needed to be alone for a while," Katara said, trying to sound casual as she walked over to sit next to her brother. "Um, I did see Aang earlier, right after the ceremonies finished up, but I left him and like I said, I needed to be alone…" She stopped as she realized she was babbling.

Sokka gave her an odd look. "OK, but he was fine when you saw him? I mean, it's not that big a deal, I guess, but no one knew where you two were, so…" His voice trailed off and he peered closer at his sister. "You been crying?"

Oops, tactical error, getting close enough for him to see her tear-streaked cheeks and puffy, red eyes. "Um, yeah, just the…emotions of the day. It's been sort of overwhelming, hasn't it?" Quick, time for some deflection. "Hey, why are you in my room, anyway?"

"I told you, I was looking for you." He shrugged. "I figured you'd end up here eventually, so I decided to wait. If you didn't show up by midnight, I'd send out a search party. You're just lucky Dad's already asleep," he added in a scolding voice.

Dad. Of course, Dad was here, how could she have forgotten about him? "Well, you can go back to your own room," Katara snapped. "I'm back, I'm fine, and I'm sure Aang's fine, too." Time for deflection number two. "Isn't Suki going to be disappointed if you don't sneak off to meet her?"

Sokka turned beet red. "That's none of your business," he mumbled. "We're both old enough to…it's none of your business!" he repeated with a glare.

That did the trick. Sokka hauled himself to his feet and marched toward Katara's door with an air of wounded dignity. "Anyway, I was just worried about you. Good night."

"Say hi to Suki for me!" Katara chirped, chuckling to herself as the door slammed shut behind her brother.

The chuckles faded into silence as her mind returned to the problem at hand. Even if Sokka was good for a momentary distraction, that was all it was. She disrobed and threw on her nightgown, crawling under the covers to curl up in a tight ball, staring at the moon through the window. She'd made a mess, and she needed to fix things as best she could.

In the morning.

**oOo**

In the morning, Aang was gone. Katara searched for him everywhere, finally resorting to asking Zuko if he knew where their friend had disappeared to.

Zuko avoided her eyes; great, that meant Aang had told him what had happened. "Um, yeah, he had some stuff to take care of." Zuko waved one hand vaguely skyward. "He and Toph took off on Appa a few hours ago."

"He and Toph?"

Zuko nodded, studying the tops of his shoes. "She wanted to go home and show off her new status to her parents."

They had all acquired new status under the auspices of the equally new Fire Lord. Diplomats, envoys, whatever the official titles ended up being, the whole gaang had agreed to help out with the peace process. Hakoda had given his blessing to his children, resigned to the fact that they'd managed to grow up without him and were more than capable of fulfilling the duties that might be required of them as personal friends to the Fire Lord. He planned to return to the South Pole within a week, bearing treaties and other piles of scrolls for the tribal leaders to consider.

"So Toph wanted to show off," Katara said slowly. "And Aang? What, he wanted to get away from me?"

Zuko finally met her eyes, shrugging and half-nodding in response to her question. "Uh, yeah. Sorry, Katara."

He wasn't, though. Sorry, that is. He was happy and terrified that his happiness would show if he spent any more time with her. "Um, listen, I have some things to do." Another vague wave of the hand and Katara took the hint, thanking him for his time and leaving the room with dragging feet.

His heart ached for her sadness. She'd wanted to make things right with Aang, he could tell, or as right as she could after breaking the Avatar's heart. Zuko almost called out after her, but caught himself. Now wasn't the time; hell, there might never be "the time". Just because she didn't want to be with Aang didn't mean she wanted to be with him.

And there was Mai to consider. "Never break up with me again." A warning and a promise. She was the perfect candidate for Fire Lady, cool to his heat, ice to his fire…He shook his head. _Don't go there, Zuko,_ he scolded himself, but his wayward imagination thumbed its nose at his sensible, logical side and presented a series of enticing images for his mental consideration.

Ice. Water. Katara. Bending, wearing only those flimsy-looking loin- and breast-wraps. The two of them sparring, her blue, blue eyes sparkling with laughter as she bested him, with mock anger when he bested her. She'd handled the ceremony yesterday with aplomb, holding herself as regally as any noble-born woman and better than many.

_She's not really a peasant,_ his treacherous mind, whispered. _Her father's a chief. In Fire Nation terms, that makes her the equivalent to a princess. A worthy bride for the Fire Lord…_

He shook his head to clear it. What was he thinking? Katara was only fifteen, for Agni's sake! And he was seventeen. It would be three years before she'd be old enough to marry by Fire Nation law.

And by South Pole Water Tribe tradition, she could be married now. People didn't always make it to a ripe old age in any of the three remaining Nations, but conditions were even more brutal in the icy polar regions. Katara probably knew girls her age who'd already had babies.

He felt himself flushing at the direction his idle speculations were tending. So what if she did? That didn't mean she wanted to have babies herself, at least not right now. And he certainly wasn't planning on fathering any…although the thought of the act that led up to possibly getting a girl pregnant was certainly appealing. Not that he'd ever had the chance to find out; his father had tried to send a prostitute to Zuko once, when he was thirteen, but he'd been so embarrassed he sent the woman away with a full purse and still untutored in the arts of love. Was Katara as inexperienced as he was? Probably even more so, since he doubted she'd let Aang touch her the way Mai had sometimes let Zuko…

"Grr," he said aloud, marching over to his desk and plopping himself down on the chair behind it. Some good old fashioned paperwork would get his mind out of the gutter and back where it belonged.

A sudden gust of wind startled him; he looked over at the window, watching as the red and gold hangings billowed inward. It was raining; he heard the patter of raindrops against the stone balcony and walked over to stand beneath the soothing coolness.

As his eyes swept the courtyard below, his breath caught in his throat. _She_ was there, standing in the rain as he was, eyes closed, arms outstretched, turning in slow circles as she reveled in her element. She was every inch the Water Bender, in spite of the Fire Nation colors she was wearing and the elaborate Fire Nation style up-do that had probably taken a maid hours to put together.

He continued to watch as she reached up suddenly and undid all that work in a matter of seconds, fingers raking through the coils and braids, carelessly flinging hair pins to the ground where they sat in the gathering puddles, pounded by the intensifying rain.

Katara left her face up to the sky, eyes still tightly closed, and Zuko heard her laugh aloud as a clap of thunder split the air. A smile of appreciation curved his own lips upward, and he found himself leaning over the low stone balcony, utterly entranced by the vision in red and gold standing below him.

She opened her eyes and went into a Bending stance, practicing in the rain, motioning the puddles to join together, to dance around her in ribbons of water, obscuring her in streams that flowed up and down and back again, obeying the movements of her arms and will.

He was frozen, unable to tear his eyes away, ignoring the rain that dripped down his face and into his eyes, plastering his silks to his body just as hers were plastered to her body, revealing every curve and line to his appreciative gaze.

With a downward thrust of her arms the water splashed back to the ground. Laughing she looked up to the sky once again—and met Zuko's eyes.

Her lips parted in a startled "O", as if she were kissing the raindrops that fell on her face. Zuko felt his own lips part in response, as if he could reach her mouth from up here, and he didn't move to break eye contact, burning with the intensity of the desire that flooded over him.

A blush suffused her cheeks as their eyes continued to hold each other, then she closed her mouth, ducked her head and hurried away without a backward glance.

Great. Just great. She'd caught him staring and had reacted exactly as he should have expected her to; with embarrassment. With a curse he turned back to his office, slamming the terrace doors shut behind him. Shutting out the rain, and the enticing vision he'd just witnessed.

Mai was waiting for him, obviously shocked by the sight of his drenched form. The door was closed behind her, and he watched as she took a tiny step forward, brow furrowed in concern. "Zuko? Why were you standing out in the rain?" Her eyes traveled the length of his body from top to bottom and back up again. "You're soaked!"

"I know." He wiped a hand down his face, sluicing off the water dripping down his chin, then pushed his wet hair back so his bangs would stop splashing him. "I wanted to feel the rain. I needed to think."

And his thoughts had crystallized once he saw her. She still looked puzzled, but her body was trembling with some barely-controlled emotion. "Mai? What's wrong?"

She offered him a dazzling smile, the biggest he'd ever seen her lips form. "Nothing's wrong. I was just talking to my father and mother. I told them we were back together. They were thrilled." The smile faded and then vanished as he frowned at her. "Zuko? What's wrong?" She repeated her earlier question with more urgency this time.

He wiped his hand over his face again and moved further into the room, quick, restless steps that ended a few feet away from her. "I wish you hadn't done that," he muttered before his more diplomatic side could catch up with his more impetuous side.

Mai reared back as if he'd struck her. Eyes wide, hands covering her lips, she shook her head. Slowly she lowered her hands but she continued to stare at him. "Why?" she whispered.

"Because…because last night was a mistake." He hadn't meant to be so blunt, but the knowledge that he was going to hurt her no matter how he worded it kept his words terse and to the point. "I was going to talk to you, to try and explain…"

"I don't understand," Mai said brokenly, her eyes bewildered. "Zuko, I went to prison for you." He flinched at that reminder, but his face remained as impassive as hers usually was. "I told Azula I loved you more than I feared her. And that's true; it was true then, it's true now." She reached out for him, but he backed away. Just one step, but it may as well have been a million.

Her hand dropped back to her side. "Why, Zuko?" she asked, voice and face retreating into passivity, into cool detachment even as her heart ached and her mind screamed at him. "Between last night and today , what changed?"

"I did," he replied after a long moment. "I'm sorry, Mai, but I just realized that I don't feel the same way for you that I used to, the same way you do for me. It wouldn't be fair for me to lie to you about it. To lead you on, to let you expect…"

"Expect what?" she asked, her voice still cool and emotionless. "Expect a future with you? Expect to be your wife one day, to be Fire Lady?" She shook her head. "No, I guess I won't expect that now. But you wouldn't be doing this to me unless there was another reason besides your feelings changing." Her eyes hardened. "Who is she?"

_Caught,_ his expression said, and her heart plunged. A change in feelings toward her she could do something about; a change in feelings for another girl, that was an entirely different matter. "You owe me that much, Zuko," she said quietly. "Who is she?"

He gulped and looked down, then forced himself to meet her gaze. "Someone who probably doesn't feel the same way about me," he muttered, shifting from foot to foot as if eager to get this over with, to get away.

Tough. He wasn't going anywhere until she was finished with him. "Who?"

Her voice was implacable, her eyes steady on his, and finally he dropped his gaze and gave in. "Katara," he replied simply.

* * *

_A/N: Things are going to get a wee bit grimmer for a while. A woman scorned and all that. R&R!_


	3. Kiss Me Deadly

**Part Three: Kiss Me Deadly**

Mai swiped angrily at her eyes. Why was she crying? She didn't _cry_, she wasn't the one that got all emotional and stupid; that was Ty Lee. Where was Ty Lee, anyway? The stupid Kyoshi warriors weren't leaving till tomorrow and Ty Lee should be here, she was Mai's friend, wasn't she? Even if she was going off to stupid Kyoshi Island to be with her stupid new Kyoshi Warrior friends, she should be here for Mai to talk to…

Another swipe with the back of her hand, another time it came away wet. The stupid tears wouldn't stop falling. Tears of anger, she told herself, and knew it for a lie. Or partly a lie. Oh, she was angry, that much was sure; angry, hurt, disappointed, confused…And jealous. Agni, she was jealous! How _could_ he, how could Zuko fall for that stupid little Water Tribe _peasant_? Wasn't she Aang's girl? Everyone whispered that the two of them made a cute couple, but apparently that didn't matter to the high and mighty Fire Lord. Oh no, he had to go and break off a perfectly acceptable relationship to go chasing after a girl who he even admitted might not care about him the same way.

She slipped into her room, grateful not to have met anyone on the way. Everyone was busy in other wings of the palace, and Zuko refused to have guards on the door to his private office and chambers the way his father always had. Mai knew the back routes of the palace, routes even the servants rarely used, and that knowledge had come in handy today.

Once inside she shut the door softly behind her and leaned against it. Was it only last night that she'd been in the same position, her heart singing and a smile on her face? How stupid she'd been. How blind and stupid…

She cried out as she felt something sharp slice into her palm. She looked down blankly; when had she drawn her knives, why was she holding them by the blades instead of the well-wrapped handles? She watched as her blood flowed down the blade to drip onto the floor. She'd been cast aside by the man she loved yet again, all her sacrifices and years of love and loyalty crushed beneath his feet as if they meant nothing.

Crushed like her heart.

As if a passenger inside her own body rather than the one controlling it, she watched as she walked over to the bathing chamber attached to her room and carefully rinsed the blood off her blades, as she washed and dried and wrapped her hand in a clean cloth and neatly returned the knives to their sheathes. She continued to watch as she knelt down and pulled out a small black enameled box and placed it on the counter next to the sink, pushing aside the towels and hair care items and cosmetics in order to make room.

The box was a gift from Azula, as were its contents. A gift she'd only reluctantly accepted, one she never intended to do anything with, but here it was, and it was her hands releasing the catch, opening the cover, and pulling out the small vials in order for her eyes to examine them.

They were neatly labeled; Azula was nothing if not thorough, at least before she completely lost her mind. Thorough and forward-looking; somehow she'd known that Mai might some day have need of this little chest of death, and that she'd have the constitution to actually use its contents.

"_You never know, Mai, you never know,"_ had been Azula's only answer when her friend, stunned and confused, asked her why she thought she could possibly want vials of poison as a birthday present.

Now, she understood. _You never know._ Well, she knew now.

Leaning over, she reached for her cosmetics. She knew, and soon Zuko would know as well.

**oOo**

Katara rushed into her room, clothes dripping, face bright red, hair streaming behind her like a dark wave. She'd waved aside offers of towels and hot baths and questions by the servants she passed, too disconcerted by that moment in the courtyard to be able to think about anything else.

She leaned against the door and let out a tremulous sigh. Zuko had been watching her. Zuko had been as soaked as she was, standing out in the downpour on his balcony, staring down as she danced with the rain, her clothes plastered to her body just as his were plastered to him…

Her blush deepened. She'd stared right back at him, entranced by the sight of his muscular chest. He hadn't a man's body, not yet, but the one he was developing was more than good enough for her, thank you very much. And she hoped against hope that his view of her had been equally appreciated.

Could it be? No, impossible, she was reading things into a simple shared moment in the rain. Zuko was with Mai; she'd seen them holding hands after the ceremony yesterday, had seen the way Mai looked at him. Of course, she considered, they'd also seen her holding hands with Aang, and look how that had turned out.

Her heart was hammering in her chest, and a tremulous smile kept breaking out no matter how she tried to school her features. He'd been watching her, and he'd continued to watch her when she caught him at it. He hadn't turned away, he'd locked gazes and it was she who'd moved first to break that gaze.

"Great," she muttered to herself. "If he _is_ interested, now he probably thinks I'm not." How to handle this unexpected dilemma? Should she just confess and see what he said? But what if she was completely misinterpreting the situation? What if she was just giving in to wishful thinking? "At least he knows I'm not in love with Aang," she murmured to herself, stepping away from the door. Small comfort, but the best she could come up with at the moment.

A light tap on the door startled her; could it be…She rushed back and flung it open, blinking in surprise at who she saw standing there. "Can I help you?" she asked politely, and then there was pain, and the world tilted and she fell into blackness.

**oOo**

Zuko was changing into clean, dry clothes when a knock sounded at the door to his private chambers. He sighed and went to open it, tossing the clean tunic he'd been about to don on the nearest chair. Today was supposed to be a day to himself, a day of respite before he had to face the remainder of his life as Fire Lord, but he should have known it was too good to be true. There were too many people clamoring for his attention, too many treaties and claims for reparations and decisions that demanded his attention. He supposed he should be grateful he'd had half the morning to settle into things. Just as he was grateful that his office was part of his personal suite and so easily accessible when an unexpected change of clothes was needed.

"What is it?" he snapped as he wrenched the door open, then stepped back, stammering an apology. "Mai! I'm sorry, I didn't expect, I thought it was…Is there something you need?" He finally gathered himself enough to ask.

She tilted her head inquiringly. "May I come in?"

He took another step back, one hand on the door handle, the other gesturing for her to enter. "Of course."

He shut the door behind her after peering cautiously down the hall and seeing no one. It was an impropriety for him to have a girl in his private chambers, but this was the sitting room, not the bedroom, and the office was through the room's other door if he needed to hustle her away, and nothing was going to happen. Besides, it was Mai's reputation that would bear the brunt of any gossip…he caught himself on that thought, chastising himself for his callousness. "You know you shouldn't be here," he began, regretting the impulse to allow her in, but she held up a hand to his lips, silencing him.

"It's all right, Zuko, I won't stay long enough for anyone to think we were doing anything we shouldn't be. Besides," she added, "no one saw me. I made sure of that."

He studied her carefully. Something was different about her, and not just because he knew she was mad at him. She'd made herself up as if for an important event, that was it. Her lips were redder than nature had ever intended, her eyes outlined in kohl and the lids emphasized by some sort of dark, smoky cosmetic he didn't know the name for. "You look…very nice," he said cautiously.

Her lips deepened into a smile. "Thank you. I just came by to tell you I'm leaving."

He should have expected as much. "Are you going home?" Her parents must be furious with him.

She shook her head, still smiling. It unnerved him, that smile; Mai never smiled this much, and to smile when he knew she was angry…it wasn't a good sign. "No. I've decided to do some more traveling, see a bit of the world when I'm not trying to help conquer it. I just wanted to say good-bye."

He noticed her clothing then, the clothing that definitely didn't go with the carefully made-up face she was sporting, just as the simple pair of braids she'd wound her hair into didn't go with it. She was wearing a plain tunic and pants tucked into calf-high leather boots, all black, her favorite color. Her blades were strapped to her hips in plain sight, another incongruity; usually she kept them hidden. "Where are you going?" he started to ask, but she placed her fingers over his lips again.

"Don't worry about me, Zuko, I'll be fine." Her eyes flashed with some undefined emotion, and he felt a cold shiver try to make its way down his spine. She stepped closer, so they were almost touching along the lengths of their bodies. "I just want one favor from you." She leaned even closer. "Just a good-bye kiss," she breathed, placing her hands on his shoulders. "You owe me that much."

He owed her more than that and would have made the offer if he didn't think she'd turn him down. She wanted no titles, no money, nothing from him at all; her pride would force her to say no even if she did want them. Which she would never admit, one way or another. If all she asked of him was a kiss, then he would give it to her, and gladly, for the sake of what they'd once shared, in apology for shattering her dreams and breaking her heart. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

They parted beneath his, her tongue darting into his mouth, deepening the kiss, her hands clutching the damp fabric of his tunic, holding him in place. He put his hands on her elbows to steady himself, and she responded by molding herself desperately against him, pressing her body to his.

When he tried to pull away she tightened her hold, fingernails digging through the fabric of his shirt and deep into his skin. He gave a muffled yelp of pain, then a louder one as she suddenly sank her teeth into his lower lip, biting hard enough to draw blood. Only then did she release her grip on him and pull away, watching as he stared at her in outrage, tongue darting out to taste the blood still flowing from his split lip. "Mai! What the hell was that?"

"That was me saying good-bye," she replied, carefully wiping the blood from her lips with a scrap of cloth she pulled out of her waistband. She also removed every trace of the bright red lip covering that hadn't been kissed away, as she watched him through narrowed eyes. "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Zuko opened his mouth to respond, then closed it as a sudden bout of dizziness overcame him and a rushing noise filled his ears. He swayed, staring at her, then dropped heavily to his knees as the world tilted around him. "What did you do?" he managed to ask before a tightness in his throat closed off further words.

"I told you never to break up with me again," Mai replied coolly. "But you didn't listen. Now you and your little Water Bending girlfriend will just have to pay the price." She bent over him as he sagged to his side, his head hitting the floor with a painful thump. "Azula always knew the right gifts to give a friend."

Zuko gasped for breath, reaching out for her, watching through the mist that filled his eyes as she walked across the room and closed the door gently behind her.


	4. Kiss Your Past Good Bye

**Part Four: Kiss Your Past Good-Bye**

Katara's hands were stained with blood. She blinked her eyes and wondered dreamily why that should be, then memory came flooding back, memory and a deep pain in her side like she'd never felt before. Mai had stabbed her…why? _What did it matter?_ the other part of her mind demanded. _She stabbed you. _Do_ something about it, Blood Bender._

She pressed her hands back to her side. That's why they were bloody; she'd been trying to staunch the flow of blood from the wound and must have passed out. That also explained why she was lying on the floor.

She rolled onto her side, crying out at the additional pain that small movement caused, then pulled herself determinedly to her knees. She swayed with dizziness but held on with every ounce of determination she had, with all the stubbornness she'd ever been accused of, concentrating on moving the flow of blood away from the gash in her side, forcing it to avoid the damaged vessels and move through the uncut veins so she wouldn't lose any more than she already had.

Mai had stabbed her. She'd stabbed her, thrusting her knife into Katara's side even as she held the door open and asked what the other girl wanted. Then she'd leaned forward and whispered something, what had she said? Katara tried to gather her thoughts, but they stubbornly refused to be gathered, like ground-nuts scattered by the winter winds…

Zuko. Katara smiled triumphantly. It was something about Zuko, that was what Mai had whispered. Something about him getting what he deserved, just as Katara was getting what she deserved.

It still made no sense, but it did set off alarm bells. If Mai had gone nuts and stabbed Katara for some imagined or hallucinated insult, then what had she done to Zuko? He refused to keep bodyguards when not in public, and he trusted Mai; he'd let her into his rooms as readily as Katara had.

She dragged herself to her feet, light-headed from blood loss. There was quite a lot of it on the floor, more than she'd ever seen in one place at a time outside of animal slaughtering, and she vaguely wondered how much a human could lose before…well, before. She walked through it when it was obvious she didn't have the strength to jump over it, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind her as she opened the door and staggered into the hallway, calling out weakly for help.

No one was there. Most people were out at the parties that were still going on in the public wings of the palace, away from the sleeping chambers. She hadn't felt like celebrating, and Zuko had been working, or at least in his office, the one that opened onto his private chambers…which way was it?

She made her way down the hall, leaning heavily with one hand against the wall, the other pressed firmly to her side, splitting her attention between keeping the blood flowing away from the wound and not collapsing.

She made it all the way to Zuko's chambers without meeting up with a single person, guest or palace resident, servant or guard, and wondered dully if Mai had sent everyone away so no one would be able to help Katara and Zuko. If, Katara thought, Zuko was even here and hurt. Just because Mai said he was getting what he deserved didn't mean she'd stabbed him the way she'd stabbed her; after all, Zuko was the Fire Lord, a master Fire Bender…and she was a master Water Bender, and look where that had gotten her.

She was concentrating so fiercely on remaining upright that she almost passed the door to Zuko's office. It stood open, and one look inside told her it was empty. She almost went on, then hesitated and entered. There was another door, the one to his private chambers, and that was open as well. Which she doubted he'd leave open if he wasn't there. She hauled herself through the door, leaning heavily against any furniture she encountered, uttering a quiet curse she'd learned from Sokka when she realized she was bleeding again. Not as heavily as before, but her concentration was wavering under a burden of concern for Zuko. She called out his name and paused for a moment by the massive wooden desk, listening.

Nothing. No sound, but the open doorway drew her on. Zuko had to be here; what if Mai had stabbed him as well? He was no Blood Bender; he'd be helpless. She damned him for his stubborn insistence that he needed no bodyguards, and damned herself for her weakness. Her knees were shaking, and she knew if she didn't get help soon she'd lose first her consciousness and then her life. But she moved on in single-minded determination. She had to find Zuko and make sure he was all right.

When she did find him, he wasn't all right; he was collapsed on the floor of his sitting room, eyes closed and unmoving. She dropped to her knees and placed shaking fingers on his throat, feeling for the life pulse and offering up a silent prayer to La and all the gods and spirits when she found one. He was still alive.

She looked for a wound and found nothing more life-threatening than a bitten lip that had stopped bleeding, but his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. Some kind of poison, she decided; that had to be it. Nothing she could help him with without knowing what Mai had used.

The bitten lip nagged at her mind; if Mai had poisoned him, perhaps it wasn't something he'd eaten or drunk but something she'd gotten directly into his blood. Through that bite, perhaps? It seemed crazy but then, so did stabbing Katara for no good reason.

She was faced with a dilemma. Even if she bound up her side (why hadn't she thought of that earlier?) she would still be losing blood if she stopped Bending for herself and started on Zuko.

His pale face and labored breathing decided her. There was a shirt lying carelessly across the chair nearest them, she dragged herself over to it and wrapped it around her waist as best she could, doubling up the sturdy fabric directly over the wound, hissing in pain as it contacted the ragged flesh. Then she grit her teeth and undid the sash around Zuko's waist. It was too wet to be of any use as a bandage but might help keep everything in place.

When she finished, taking far longer than she wanted and crying out for help repeatedly in the hopes that someone would hear her, she turned back to Zuko, closing her eyes and concentrating on the feel and flow of his blood.

The poison was centered around his head and neck; she could feel its alien presence in his blood like a malevolent snake hiding in a hole. She kept it in place, straining to keep it away from his heart and traveling from there to the rest of his body. It wasn't doing his breathing any good, but it wouldn't matter if she couldn't get him to a healer soon. A real healer, not just a half-dead Water Bender with pretensions toward greatness…

She was becoming even more light-headed with every passing second, and her vision was blurrier every time she opened her eyes, so finally she just kept them shut. She called out one last time, only to realize that her voice was too weak to carry past the heavy wooden door that lay between them and the corridor. She cursed herself for not thinking to open it, then felt herself swaying and collapsed over Zuko, tears leaking from her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered, raising her head and gazing down at him. "I'm so sorry, Zuko." Leaning forward, she planted a shaky kiss on his lips, then fell back into unconsciousness.

**oOo**

Katara opened her eyes, then immediately wished she hadn't as a wave of dizziness passed over her. "She's awake!" someone yelled, and she wished a further wish that they'd shut up and let her go back to sleep.

Her eyes started to flutter shut, then snapped open as memory came rushing back. "Zuko!" she cried, raising herself to a sitting position and only then noticing that she'd been lying down.

A second wave of dizziness, stronger than the first, caused her to sink back against the pillows she'd just abandoned. Sokka's face appeared in her line of sight, a frown of concern mellowing into a smile of relief as she stared up at him. "Zuko?" she repeated in a whisper.

"He's fine," her brother hastened to assure her. "The healers are with him now. Thanks to your Blood Bending, the poison didn't spread as quickly as it should have, at least that's what they're assuming. You did Bend the nasty stuff away from his heart, didn't you?" He wriggled his fingers and she found the strength to nod. "You'll be fine too," he continued in a rush. "You lost a lot of blood—that's how I found you, by following," he gulped and paled, but continued: "By following the blood smears to Zuko's rooms." He shuddered at the memory. "Man, did you leave a scary large puddle behind in your own room!

Katara closed her eyes wearily. "Sorry about the mess," she found the strength to mutter, but knowing that Zuko was safe was enough for the moment, and she drifted back to sleep.

Sokka stared down at her, gnawing at his lower lip as his heart clutched in his chest. She was so pale and still, even her moment of wakefulness wasn't enough to fully reassure him that she was going to be OK, no matter what he told her.

He glanced toward the door. Where was Dad with the healer? He'd gone to fetch the man when Sokka announced Katara's wakefulness. He fretted over how long it was taking. Katara was still his baby sister, and he didn't take kindly to her being stabbed by some unknown assassin. Or assassins; one that had stabbed Katara and one that had poisoned Zuko. Whoever it was, they'd gotten clean away. Their only hope of tracking them (him? her?) down was to wait for Zuko and Katara to wake up enough to tell them who'd done it.

The way things were going, that might be a long wait. Too long in Sokka's opinion; the longer it took, the more likely the killer-attemptees would get away completely.

Not if he had anything to say about it. Which, he admitted as he sank back into the chair by Katara's bed, he didn't. Not until his sister and Zuko woke up for more than seconds at a time.

He passed the time by speculating on why the attacks had occurred, who was behind them, but mostly why anyone would want to stab his sister. Zuko he got, but not his sister. Heck, everyone loved Katara, even people who'd only just met her. And surely she hadn't had time to make any enemies over the past couple of days!

Of course, there were still Ozai supporters out there, but it still made no sense for her to be stabbed in her room and Zuko to be poisoned in his. If she'd interrupted the assassination attempt, then it would make sense; and it would be just like her to rush to Zuko's aid without any thought of her own safety. But that wasn't the way it had played out; the trail of blood told the story as clearly as if Katara had been able to explain it to them. She'd been stabbed in her room and made her way to Zuko's chambers, helping him before collapsing herself.

He shook his head, knowing it was futile to speculate further but unable to stop his whirling thoughts. At least, he realized, she'd recognized that Zuko was in danger, otherwise the new Fire Lord would most likely be dead by now. And if he, Sokka, hadn't gone looking for her to drag her back to the festivities and stop brooding on whatever it was that had her so down, then she'd be dead too. He shuddered at the thought. "You're just lucky I'm as stubborn as you are," he murmured to her sleeping form.

Soft footsteps warned him of someone's approach; he turned his head and smiled when he saw Suki. She and the other Kyoshi Island warriors had voluntarily remained behind when Ty Lee had been detained for questioning by Lord Iroh. Besides, as she told Sokka, she wanted stay and help him through this crisis.

She stopped just behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder. He reached up and squeezed it affectionately as she asked: "How's she doing? Your father said she woke up…"

Sokka nodded. "She did, and she asked about Zuko. When I told her he was gonna be OK, and that she was gonna be OK, that they were both gonna be OK…" He stopped himself from babbling further, took a deep breath and continued in a calmer voice. "She went back to sleep. The healers said she'd be doing that a lot until she fully recovered from losing so much blood."

His breath hitched in his chest and the flow of words stuttered to a stop. Suki's hand slid down to his chest as she leaned her head on shoulder, enfolding him in her gentle embrace. "She'll be OK. Katara's a lot tougher than people think. Including you."

"I just wish she'd stay awake long enough to tell us who did this to her."

"It was Mai."

They started and turned to face the newcomer, Suki stepping away from Sokka just enough to take up a fighting stance if it proved to be necessary. Old habits died hard. She relaxed when she saw it was Zuko's Uncle Iroh standing in the doorway. "My nephew regained consciousness just long enough to tell us her name. The servants for the wing holding the guest and family quarters say she sent them away to enjoy the festivities for the day." His lip curled in a sneer. "And the guards saw her riding away a few hours ago. No one had any reason to stop her. Soldiers have been sent after her and her parents have been arrested until we can sort this out." He moved into the room and peered down at Katara's sleeping form. "How is she doing?"

"Better," Sokka replied, hoping he didn't show his shock at Iroh's revelations but knowing full well he did. Heck, so did Suki, although she wasn't standing there with her mouth open the way he'd been. "She woke up and asked about Zuko."

"He doesn't know about her," Iroh said. "And we plan to keep it that way, until he fully recovers." He was in full Dragon of the West mode, remote and merciless, no sign of the genial tea-drinker about him at all. "No one is allowed to see him unless cleared by me, including you two," he added unapologetically. "If you wish to visit him, let the guards know and I'll see if I can spare the time to bring you there myself. If anyone tries to get in without me or the chief healer, the guards are ordered to stop them by any means necessary."

"You think this was some kind of conspiracy?" Suki asked while Sokka returned to gaping in shock.

"I don't know what to think. All I can do for now is make sure no other attempts are made on Zuko's life, or Katara's. You and your family are free to visit with her," he added, "but her guards have the same orders as Zuko's: only approved people can come to see her, and anyone else will be stopped."

"Has anyone told Aang?" Sokka remembered to ask. "Or Toph?" He hadn't seen them all day, come to think of it.

Iroh's face, already forbidding, hardened further. "They left the palace early this morning. They're being sought for questioning."

"You don't really think _Aang_ had anything to do with this!" Sokka sputtered in outrage as Suki shook her head in vehement denial, but Iroh merely shrugged.

"I don't know what to think. All I know is the timing of their abrupt and unscheduled leave-taking is suspicious. It might have nothing to do with this situation, or it might not. We need to know, and we need to know now, before the Fire Nation erupts into civil war over this assassination attempt."

He turned and left the room, and Sokka collapsed back into his chair, from which he'd half-risen, a gust of air exploding from his lungs as he did so. "Whoo! How did we end up in this mess?" he demanded, slapping one hand over his eyes.

Suki slipped onto his lap, threading her arms behind his neck and planting a firm kiss on his lips. "I don't know," she said softly, her gaze drifting to Katara's sleeping form. "But I do know one thing; we're not going anywhere until we figure this out."


	5. It's In His Kiss

**Part Five: It's In His Kiss**

The second time Katara woke up the room was dark except for a light on the table by her bedside, and she was alone. No, not entirely alone; a shadowy figure stirred and she realized someone was sitting with her just outside the dim glow of the light. "Hello?" she said weakly, and the shadow moved forward, revealing her father's relieved and smiling face.

"Hello, little one," he said softly, reaching out to take one of her hands in his. "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone stabbed me," she replied, eliciting a startled snort of laughter from her father's lips. "How's Zuko doing?" She vaguely remembered Sokka telling her the Fire Lord would be fine, but she needed to hear it again.

"Zuko's doing just fine," Hakoda assured her. "Better than you are, apparently; he's been awake and trying to get out of his sick room, but Iroh won't let him."

"Good," Katara breathed in relief. "Whatever Mai poisoned him with, he's bound to need more time to recover than…how long has it been?" she wondered.

"Sokka found you two right before lunch," Hakoda replied. So it was the same day, or the night of the same day anyway. Katara studied her father's face in the limited lighting; there appeared to be deep lines where there hadn't been any before, and she felt badly for being the cause of his pain. "It's near midnight now. You should go back to sleep," he added as she yawned.

Katara nodded drowsily. "Yeah, I know. I just want to know why she did this."

"So do we," her father agreed grimly. "Before Zuko allowed himself to fall back asleep, he told Iroh that he'd broken up with Mai, but claimed he had no idea why she'd attacked you as well." He studied his daughter, heard the slight catch in her breath as he spoke, and filed it away for future reference. "Do you?"

Her first thought was that somehow Mai had found out about Katara's feelings for Zuko, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out how, so she shook her head and closed her eyes. "Sorry," she apologized. "I never did anything to her. Maybe she was just lashing out because Zuko broke up with her and I was the only other person around."

She hugged that thought to herself as she drifted back to sleep. Zuko had broken up with Mai; that was why she'd poisoned him. It all made sense now. Of course she'd turn out to be as crazy and vindictive as Azula; the two were just broccoli-peas in a pod. Then her breathing evened out and Katara fell back into the healing arms of sleep.

**oOo**

Another day passed before Zuko came to visit Katara, in spite of his uncle's protests that he needed more time to heal. "I need to show the people the Fire Lord is recovered," he'd snapped. "Mai threatened Katara as well, and I'm tired of you not answering me and just saying she's fine." His eyes narrowed as he glared at Iroh. "What did she do to her?"

When Iroh finally admitted Katara had been stabbed, Zuko had uttered an angry oath and demanded his clothing. Iroh wisely realized he could no longer have his way about this; if Zuko was well enough to throw a Fire Lord-sized temper tantrum, then he was well enough to return to his life and duties, including visiting Katara.

They still hadn't found Mai; after hearing that her parents had been imprisoned Zuko coldly ordered their release. "Send them back home," he'd snarled when Iroh asked if they were to be allowed to remain in the palace. "They had nothing to do with what Mai did, but I don't want them around, either."

When Iroh tried to press him on how he knew they weren't involved, Zuko's lips set into a stubborn line that his uncle knew only too well. Mai's parents were freed and ordered to take their son and return home to their Omashu governor's palace. A home, Zuko explained in a tersely worded note, that wouldn't be theirs for more than a half a dozen more years as lands were ceded back to their original owners and governorship of the Earth Kingdom territories annexed by the Fire Nation was returned to Earth Kingdom officials.

Ty Lee had been freed as well, although she'd merely been detained in the rooms she was sharing with the other Kyoshi Island warriors. All of whom had staunchly vouched for her whereabouts at the time of the attacks. Suki had ordered them all home, even though Ty Lee had protested that she needed to find Mai and talk her down, convince her to give herself up…and then had been forced to admit even she probably couldn't manage that if Mai was far enough gone to actually try and kill two people. So she'd left, unwilling and protesting, brightening when Suki mentioned that perhaps Mai would seek her out on Kyoshi Island.

"And if she does," Ty Lee had promised through eyes brimming with tears, "I'll make sure she knows she still has a friend, someone to stand by her during her trial. Cause of course I'll make sure she doesn't leave before Zuko comes to get her."

Zuko wasn't too concerned about Ty Lee softening, since he doubted very much that Mai would seek her out at all, but wisely kept his opinion to himself when she told him of her decision to leave. He'd merely accepted her apologies on behalf of her friend and allowed her to hug him good-bye. Then he'd turned his attention to calling off the hunt for Aang and Toph, scoffing at the idea that they would have anything to do with an assassination attempt. "For Agni's sakes!" he'd shouted, yes, _shouted_ at his uncle in exasperation. "He wouldn't even kill my father under extreme provocation, why would he be involved in a plot to kill _me_?"

The search for Aang and Toph had been modified into the delivery of a coded message explaining the situation and asking them to return to the Fire Nation as soon as possible. All in all he'd lost a good portion of his morning when all he wanted to do was sit by Katara's side and apologize to her over and over again for almost getting her killed.

Finally, he had that chance, but he checked himself as he reached her door. Raising a hand to knock, he heard the muffled sounds of laughter and raised voices, then cautiously pushed the door open and peered inside.

She was surrounded by friends and family, Hakoda and Sokka and Suki and several of their other friends, even Teo and his wheeled chair making the room seem even more crowded than it actually was. He almost stepped back into the hall, but Katara looked over as he hesitated, and her laughter faded and a look of concern blossomed on her face. Agni, she was so pale…

The others turned to see what Katara was staring at. When they realized who it was, a general cry of relief went up. "Hey, good to see you up and moving!" Sokka exclaimed, rushing over and slapping the Zuko on the back hard enough to make him wince.

The young tactician squawked indignantly and rubbed his shoulder where Suki had just punched him. "What was that for?"

"Can't you see Zuko doesn't need you slobbering all over him right now?" she scolded, leading the young Fire Lord solicitously over to the room's single chair and insisting he sit down in it. "We'll leave you two alone," she announced, firmly herding the others out of the room, including an uncertain-looking Hakoda.

"I won't stay long," Zuko promised Katara's father. The older man look relieved, thanked him, and left the room with the others, carefully closing the door behind him. Iroh's insistence on security was still in force, even though Zuko had already told him there was no conspiracy, no rebellion, just the hurt feelings of a young woman who was obviously less emotionally stable than everyone thought.

When he mentioned that to Katara, she gave him an incredulous look and snapped: "Ya think?" Then she blushed and apologized. That launched Zuko into his own apologies, which caused Katara to insist he had nothing to apologize for, and they might have kept going that way until she finally reached up and took his hand in hers. He flinched at her touch, but didn't pull away. "Zuko. They told me Mai poisoned you because you broke up with her, right?" He nodded. "But why did she stab me? Was it because I was the only other person nearby, was she worried that I would find you before the poison did its job?"

That interpretation hadn't occurred to Zuko; depending on how Katara reacted to his next confession, he might consider using it to explain away the attack to anyone who asked. "Not really," he replied, doing his best to keep his voice and face neutral. "I think she stabbed you because she was…jealous."

Jealous. Katara hadn't been expecting that; her breath caught in her throat and her hand tightened on his as she stared up at him, blue eyes meeting amber with no pretense between them. "Jealous?" she whispered uncertainly. "What would she have to be jealous of?"

He'd determined to tell her the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but it was still harder than he'd expected. He hated the idea of burdening her with his feelings when she was weak and vulnerable and after just breaking things off with Aang, but he needed to let her know, to explain. If she avoided him after that, if she felt it necessary to let him down gently or was repulsed, he would respect her wishes. Whatever they turned out to be. "She asked me who…she wanted to know…I told her I had feelings for someone else," he blurted out. The bite on his lip had started to heal, but when he was nervous his tongue had a tendency to dart out and brush against it. It did so now. "I told her I had feelings for you, Katara."

He waited nervously for her reaction, and it wasn't long in coming. "Oh," she sighed, letting out a long, relieved breath. "I didn't think…I was worried…but then you were watching me, in the rain." She smiled shyly. "I thought maybe it meant you were, y'know, interested, but I wasn't sure, and I was scared to ask you…but it's true? You are?" She peered up at him in sudden anxiety. "Interested in me?"

"More than you know," he breathed, then gave in to impulse, leaned down, and kissed her. Softly, delicately, lips barely brushing lips, afraid even now that she would pull back, but she didn't. Her lips pressed eagerly to his, parting slightly to invite him to deepen the kiss, mindful of his sore lower lip but unwilling, it seemed, to stop the kiss just because of the injury. And really, it was a minor thing, half-healed already, and her lips were so soft and inviting, how could they possibly do more damage than he'd already brought on himself? So he answered that invitation, slipping the tip of his tongue between her lips, grazing her teeth, listening in delight as she sucked in her breath and then hesitantly met his tongue with her own.

They broke apart after a long, wonderful moment, breathing heavily. A genteel cough at the room's door caught their attention, but Zuko refused to relinquish her hand as he turned to see who it was.

Hakoda was standing there, arms folded, face flushed but expression carefully neutral. "I believe my daughter needs to get some more rest," was all he said.

Zuko took the hint, reluctantly releasing Katara's hand and brushing gentle fingers across her forehead and down her cheek. "I'll see you later," he whispered, and she nodded eagerly up at him, smiling, watching as he crossed the room, offered a slight bow to her father, then disappeared from view.

Katara sensed a lecture coming on and moved to forestall it. "Dad, please don't be mad. It's not like we planned this or anything."

He sighed and slumped into the seat Zuko had just vacated, studying her. She was still his little girl, but she was fast on the way to becoming a woman, and had already shouldered more than a woman's share of the world's burdens. How could he have allowed this to happen, how had he let his son and daughter's childhoods slip through his fingers? But he had, there was no denying it, and she'd more than earned the right to make her own decisions. Especially when it came to her life's course. "Katara," he began, then stopped, unsure of what he wanted to say. He tried again: "Katara, I can't tell you who to love. All I can do is remind you that he's the Fire Lord, and you're a Water Bender. Your elements are eternal opposites, and any children you have might never become Benders at all because of that."

She blushed at the mention of children; she obviously hadn't thought that far ahead, but he hoped she was thinking about it now. The future, that is, not the idea of having children specifically. He didn't even want to go there; instead, he pressed his point. "Just think about the consequences before you let your heart rush you into a situation you might not be ready for. Promise me."

"I promise," she replied readily, but he realized with a heavy heart that it might already be too late for such promises. The look in her eyes, soft and dreamy, told him as much, and had nothing whatsoever to do with the pain relievers coursing through her veins. She was fifteen, nearly sixteen, more than old enough to marry should she choose to do so, although he'd heard that the Fire Nation had different traditions and laws about the subject than the Water Tribes and even the Earth Kingdom.

_Eighteen,_ he thought hopefully. _She has to be eighteen before she can be legally married here._ That was almost three years away; who knew what would happen between now and then? Perhaps she'd have fallen out of this infatuation, they both would have, and moved on to more suitable life partners.

Only time would tell.


	6. Shut Up and Kiss Me

**Part Six: Shut Up and Kiss Me**

The next morning Katara was taking her first, tentative steps from bed to toilet and back again, leaning heavily on Suki's arm, when the door to her room burst open and Aang skidded to a stop just in front of her. "Katara! Are you all right?"

She offered a weak smile and allowed Suki to lead her back to the bed. "I'm doing a lot better now." She looked down, face flushed with shame at how their last conversation had ended. "You didn't have to come all the way back here to check up on me. I didn't mean to be a nuisance…I mean, not that I'm not glad you did come back," she added, cheeks reddening further as she realized her words might be misconstrued as a dismissal or criticism. "But I'm doing fine now, the healers are letting me go back to my own room today. After lunch."

"If she eats it all," Suki put in, and there was a definite note of criticism in her voice. "She hasn't gotten her full appetite back yet, and that's one of the conditions." _And we're making sure she follows it,_ her voice implied.

"Are you sure you aren't pushing things?" Aang asked anxiously as he moved further into the room and perched on the edge of the chair. "You don't want to open the wound up again."

Katara sighed. Loudly. "It's already half-healed, I promise," she said, not quite rolling her eyes. Three days of people coddling her and tip-toeing around her—and Zuko being too busy to do more than check in on her once in a while—had set her nerves on edge. "I helped it along a little." She nodded at the water skin lying on the bedside table. "And I'm not going to walk the whole way, they have a wheeled chair for me to use. You know, like Teo's," she added.

"Katara, I was really worried about you," Aang said softly as he hitched the chair closer to the bed. Katara drew her legs up and settled herself under the covers, flashing a glance to Suki that the other girl instantly understood.

"Does Zuko know you're back?" she asked, edging toward the door.

Aang shrugged. "I guess," he said, worried eyes still glued to Katara's face. "Appa's kinda hard to miss, if you know what I mean. Toph came, too, but she said she'd come see you after breakfast." This last was spoke to Katara rather than Suki, who recognized her cue to leave.

"OK, then, well, maybe I'll just check in with Zuko and Sokka." When it was obvious she could be tap-dancing and twirling fiery batons and Aang wouldn't notice, she shrugged, smiled encouragingly to Katara and closed the door behind her.

They were alone. Katara had been bracing herself for this moment, knowing that Aang had been told of the attacks on her and Zuko, but she still wasn't prepared, afraid that she knew how he'd react.

As predicted, he reached for her hand, holding it tightly in his, and gazed deeply into her eyes. "This is my fault, if I'd been here…"

"She still would have attacked me, sooner or later," Katara interrupted him. Of all their friends, Aang deserved to know the truth.

For the general public and with Katara's permission, Zuko had circulated the story that Mai had attacked Katara in order to keep from helping Zuko. Hakoda knew the truth, and Katara thought Suki suspected it, but for now Katara and Zuko had agreed to keep their newly discovered feelings for each other to themselves. Things were already in so much upheaval that neither one wanted to deal with the fallout from the Fire Lord falling in love with what many would still consider a mere "Water Tribe peasant."

Aang looked confused. "But if I'd been here, we'd have been at the parties and Mai wouldn't have had a reason to stab you," he said. His frown deepened as he considered his words. "But then maybe Zuko would have died," he added reluctantly. "So I guess it's a good thing I wasn't here."

Katara shook her head. "No, even if you were still here, I'd probably have been in my room. Do you think I felt like partying after I just broke your heart?"

"Look, I've been thinking about that over the past couple of days," Aang said eagerly. Katara felt her stomach lurch as she saw the hope shining in his eyes. "We've all been through so much, and I guess maybe you weren't ready for that kiss, I mean, of course you weren't or you wouldn't have said what you did, but we can take it as slow as you like Katara. I mean, I'm not asking you to marry me, I'm only thirteen, we've got plenty of time to make decisions like that…"

He would have kept going if Katara hadn't gently removed her hand from his and shaken her head in quiet denial. "I'm sorry, Aang, but that's just not possible," she said softly, doing her best to cushion the blow she was about to deal him. "It's not just that I don't love you the way you want me to, it's that I have feelings for someone else, feelings I've been fighting for a long time because I didn't want to hurt you and because, well, because I didn't think he cared about me the same way."

Aang swallowed. "But he does?" he forced himself to ask, stiff-lipped.

Katara nodded, lowering her eyes. "He does," she confirmed. "I know the timing stinks and the situation stinks, but Zuko and I…"

"Zuko?" Aang's voice and expression were incredulous. Katara tried to reach for his hand, but he pulled it away. "You're telling me you and Zuko are together now? After just breaking up with me?" His eyes narrowed as realization of the full scope of the situation struck him. "And then he broke up with Mai," he said slowly, disbelievingly. "To be with you?"

Katara shook her head in denial. "No, Aang, it wasn't like that. He just realized that he had feelings for me, but neither one of us was going to do anything about it, except Mai tried to kill us, and, well, it just sort of…came out." It sounded lame, even to her ears. "But we decided to let everyone think I was attacked to stop me from saving Zuko. It's easier that way, less complicated."

"Less complicated for you, maybe." Aang sounded bitter.

"Less complicated for everyone," Katara corrected him. "It's a difficult time for us all, but especially for Zuko. He's the Fire Lord now, remember? Everyone's looking to him, to see how he'll handle the responsibility, if he'll slip up or start acting like his father or sister, and the last thing he needs is the distraction of people gossiping about the two of us. Especially after what just happened with Mai."

"So, you're what, Zuko's dirty little secret?"

That hurt, and Katara didn't bother to hide it as she looked at Aang. "That's not fair," she said, her voice rising in spite of her efforts to remain calm. "We're both trying to do what's best for everyone, and right now we're all too emotional…"

"You mean_ I'm_ too emotional," Aang snapped. "I'm too young, I don't understand, is that it? Don't my feelings count for anything?"

"Of course they do!" Katara replied, trying to keep the impatience she was feeling from her voice. Honestly, Aang was acting like a sulky child.

That thought brought her up short; he was acting like a sulky child and she was acting like an impatient older sister, and neither reaction was any indication of maturity on their part. So she reined in her indignation and tried again. "Aang, I'm sorry I hurt you, I really am. I'm sorry things didn't work out the way you hoped and I'm sorry I was so busy denying my feelings for Zuko that I let things get out of hand between us."

Aang sat with bowed head, waiting until she finished speaking before looking up. "You're sorry. I believe you. And you don't want me to tell anyone you're with Zuko now, I get that, and I'll keep your secret. But don't expect me to be one of the people dancing at your wedding."

With that he rose to his feet and fled the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Katara turned on her side and closed her eyes, but it didn't stop the tears from coming.

**oOo**

Zuko was heading for Katara's room; she was due to return to her chambers, and he was anxious to see how she was feeling. He'd already taken a few minutes to make sure the floors and walls had been scrubbed clean of any trace of blood, and was satisfied that the servants had done the job as well as could be managed. The floor tiles had been re-grouted and everything had been scrubbed within an inch of its life, including the corridors Katara had passed through on her way to Zuko's own rooms. Which had also been scrubbed, but there wasn't nearly as much work to be done there as there had been in Katara's chambers.

He didn't like to think about that, to think about how much blood she'd lost, and all because he'd been stupid enough to admit to Mai how he felt about Katara. But then, if he hadn't, if Mai had only gone after him, it was likely he'd be dead right now. He personally would have considered it a fair trade if it meant Katara got off unharmed, but he knew his friends would disagree.

Well, most of them. His steps slowed as he saw Aang barreling down the hall toward him, and braced himself; if he was interpreting the Avatar's expression correctly, then Katara had told him about their new relationship. Not that he blamed her, not really; she had a really strong sense of fair play, which was one of the many things he loved about her, but there were times he wished it was just a little weaker.

Times like now. Aang had seen him, and his expression was decidedly unfriendly as he rushed up to Zuko and stopped in front of him, feet planted as if he intended to stay for a while—and intended that Zuko stay as well. May as well take the bull-horse by the horns… "Hi, Aang. Welcome back. Sorry about the mix up…"

That was as far as he got before Aang punched him, a solid punch to the jaw that knocked Zuko back into the wall.

He straightened up, hands raised to block any follow-up punches, but Aang was just standing there, panting with exertion and anger as Zuko dabbed at the reopened cut on his lower lip. "I guess I deserved that," he finally said.

"I promised Katara I wouldn't tell anyone about you two," Aang growled. "And I'm glad you're both doing better, believe it or not, that Mai didn't kill you. But I think it would be a good idea if I helped find her. I need to get out of here for a while." With that, he brushed past Zuko and headed down the hall without giving the Fire Lord the opportunity to say another word.

**oOo**

Katara gasped as she saw Zuko's bloody lip. "What happened?" She would have jumped up from the chair if he hadn't hurried to her side to prevent her from doing just that.

He shrugged, trying to play it off as no big deal. "I saw Aang."

Katara's eyes widened even further. "And he hit you? Why?"

"Why do you think?" Zuko countered with a scowl. "You told him, didn't you."

"I had to," Katara replied. Gods, she sounded guilty. "It wouldn't be fair to keep it from him…"

"Hey, I agree, I just wish you'd talked to me first," Zuko said, sitting on the edge of the bed and raising her face to his for a soft kiss. He winced as their lips met and Katara clucked in dismay.

"Your poor lip," she whispered, pulling back and reaching around Zuko for the water skin on her table. "Here, let me do something about that." She gloved one hand in the water and took Zuko's chin firmly in the other, holding him still while she healed the open cut.

Within moments it felt a hundred percent better, and Zuko grinned in relief. "Thanks."

Katara snorted. "You think that's a good enough thanks? No way you're getting off that easily, mister!" She pulled his face down to hers and kissed him eagerly.

He returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm. They parted after a long moment, laughing as they each turned to make sure the room's door was firmly shut. "One day we won't have to worry about anyone walking in on us," Zuko said, and it was a promise.

"I know," Katara replied, still smiling, but her smile faded as she remembered how Zuko's lip had been reinjured in the first place. "So where's Aang now?"

Zuko shifted uncomfortably. "He said he's going to join the search for Mai, that he needed to get out of the palace for a while. I thought it was a good idea."

Katara groaned and rubbed her hand over her eyes in a very Sokka-like reaction. "And you just let him go? You have to stop him!"

Zuko stared at her in confusion. "Why? He needs to get away for a while, I get that, why don't you?"

Katara leaned forward in the chair, her expression going from exasperated to Very Patient. As did her voice. "Because he's really, really upset. He's mad at us and hurt enough to hit you. He's lashing out. If he finds Mai, he won't be in control of himself like he usually is."

Zuko stilled. "And you think Mai might hurt him?" His breath caught in his throat. "You're worried she might kill him?"

Katara shook her head gravely. "No. I'm worried _he_ might kill _her_."


	7. Sealed With A Kiss

**Part Seven: Sealed With a Kiss**

Mai had a three day lead; she'd changed from her nondescript black clothing to drab peasant clothing to her current costume of clashing pinks and oranges before boarding the first ship she could to the Earth Kingdom; she made sure to act as friendly and vivacious as she could—as much like Ty Lee as she could—yet she was still terrified. The finality of what she'd done, of the damage she'd committed while acting as a passenger in her own body, had hit her, and hit her hard.

She'd killed Zuko and Katara. Or tried to, anyway. There had been no news of their deaths, and she'd listened carefully to as much gossip as she could; there'd been rumors of an attack on the Fire Lord, rumors that followed her and grew wilder and wilder with every passing day and mile, but no official announcement of mourning or offer of a reward or even a sign of pursuit.

So maybe she hadn't killed them, but even so, she'd tried to, and that was as much a crime as succeeding would have been.

Part of her was relieved that Zuko appeared to still be alive; most of her, she was willing to admit in the privacy of her own thoughts in the darkest hours of the night, lying alone and sleepless in the cramped cabin she shared with a rambunctious family of four returning from the festivities in the Fire Nation to their home in the Earth Kingdom.

Regardless, there was no way she could ever return to the capital now, no way she could ever be more than a hunted fugitive, whether Zuko and Katara lived or died. Either they lived and knew who attacked them, or they died and the only person to flee the palace would be instantly under suspicion, although she hadn't heard her name whispered in the many rumors floating around.

She wondered where she thought she was going, when she allowed herself to consider the future beyond the next day or so left of her sea voyage. Home to her parents house? They'd be horrified by her actions and would probably turn her in themselves if they thought it would save their family honor. To Kyoshi Island, to wait for Ty Lee to show up and beg for her help?

Mai's lip curled at the thought, before she remembered the desperate role she was playing and turned it into a flirtatious smile at a passing sailor. Go to Ty Lee for help? Not likely. She was too busy playing the reformed villainess; besides, her new leader was Suki, Sokka's girlfriend, and she knew Suki would turn her in without hesitating for stabbing her lover's sister.

No, she was on her own. As for what the future would bring…she shrugged inwardly. She would be on the run for as long as she could, as long as it took Zuko's soldiers and spies and friends and, most importantly, Uncle Iroh, to track her down and drag her back to face justice. The fact that no one seemed to be on her trail meant nothing; it wasn't the attack she saw coming that would take her down, it was the one she _didn't_ see.

The best she could hope for, the best she _did_ hope for, was to delay that moment as long as possible.

And how would she react when she was found? Would she fight to the death or turn herself in willingly? Would she spare her family the shame of a public trial, and herself the agony of a public execution? _Because, face it, Mai,_ she told herself, _you know this is how it all ends. No matter how long you run, no matter how far, at the end all you have to look forward to is a hangman's noose._

And if they were going to execute her for two attempted murders, or two murders if it turned out she'd succeeded in killing Zuko and that little tramp, Katara, then what difference would it make if she killed anyone who came after her? At best she'd get clean away; at worst, she'd delay her fate by that much longer.

No, Mai knew herself not to be one to submit tamely. The only time she'd done so had been when she defied Azula and allowed herself to be imprisoned for it. She'd gone along without a fight because she believed she still had something—some_one_—to live for.

She knew better now.

Now, all she had was herself, and the gods and spirits help anyone who tried to catch her.

**oOo**

"You think Aang might lose control that badly, that he'd actually _kill_ Mai?" Zuko sounded incredulous, and Katara could understand why, but she needed him to understand her reasoning as well or he would never take this as seriously as he needed to.

"Zuko, he's so upset right now, he's not in control of himself, so yes, I'm afraid he might do something rash, something he'd regret for the rest of his life. Not on purpose," she stressed. "In the heat of the moment. Especially if Mai refuses to give herself up.

"Katara, he couldn't even kill my _father_, and he had more reason to kill him than he has to kill Mai," Zuko protested, still hung up on the idea of Aang killing someone.

"Like I said, it wouldn't be something he did deliberately," Katara repeated. She laid a hand on Zuko's arm. "Will you just promise me you'll stop him from hunting Mai? Please?"

He responded to the desperation in her voice as she hoped he would, by nodding, even though his face was still full of doubt. "If you're that worried about him, then I promise, I'll go right now and stop him."

She smiled at him in relief, then watched as he strode purposefully for the door to her room. He paused on the threshold and she blew him a kiss, smiling shyly as a grin blossomed on his lips.

She just hoped it wasn't too late, that Aang hadn't immediately jumped back on Appa and taken off. With any luck the flying buffalo was still too tired out from his long journey from Gaoling to the palace to do more than sleep for a long, long, time.

**oOo**

The next time her door opened, over an hour later, it wasn't Zuko again, as she'd hoped (for more than one reason), but Toph. "Hey, Sugar Queen, I hear you're feeling a little under the weather." She left the door open behind her as she padded across the room, heading unerringly for the bedside chair and plopping into it. "How's your side?"

"Better, a lot better," Katara assured her. "But you didn't have to come all the way back here, you know. Zuko and I, we're both fine now."

Toph's sightless gaze settled on Katara's face and she gave an incredulous laugh. "Are you kidding me? I've never been wanted for attempted murder before! I wouldn't have missed this trip for the world!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Katara mumbled, embarrassed for the actions that had been taken on her behalf while she'd still been unconscious. "I don't know what came over Iroh, thinking you and Aang might have something to do with it!"

"Well, we did just take off unannounced that morning," Toph pointed out, not sounding upset at all. In fact, she sounded as if she were enjoying it as much as she claimed. "We were gonna stay for another week, remember? Aang was supposed to give a speech and everything."

Katara did remember, and her face burned with shame. He'd abandoned the celebration and his duties because of her.

Toph's expression became concerned. "Hey, you all right, Sugar Queen? Your heart rate just sped up like crazy, so either you're excited to see me or something's wrong. What is it?"

"Did Aang tell you why he took off in the first place?"

Toph shook her head. "Nope, and I didn't ask. I could tell he really, really, _really_ didn't want to talk about it. But I'm guessing it had something to do with you, am I right?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Katara sighed. Where to begin, how much to tell? And how much to tell without talking to Zuko first? Well, she could at least tell about the kiss and her own actions immediately following, then see if Toph would buy the official reason for why Mai had stabbed Katara as well as poisoning Zuko.

Toph spared her further debate. "I'm guessing you let him kiss you, 'cause he was mumbling about kisses at one point, then shut up when I asked him about it. And I'm guessing you gave him the 'let's just be friends' speech after that, am I right?"

"On the nose," Katara confirmed.

Toph nodded. "That explains a lot. But it doesn't explain why the Ice Princess stabbed you after she poisoned Sparky. Unless you were kissing him behind her back?" she asked shrewdly.

"Not behind her back!" Katara protested, then clamped her lips shut in chagrin. "I mean, we didn't break up with Aang and Mai to be together, honest. It just sort of turned out that we were interested in each other but nothing happened till after Mai tried to kill us." Oh great, that didn't come out too confusing at all. She tried again. "Toph, Zuko and I didn't…"

Toph waved one hand as the grin returned to her face. "Save it, Sugar Queen. I know you weren't sneaking around with Sparky, I'm just giving you a hard time. But you're with him now, right?"

Katara nodded without thinking, then winced at her thoughtlessness. "Yeah, we are. But no one's supposed to know; I mean, my dad knows and Aang knows, but that's it."

Toph snorted. "Yeah, right. That's not how gossip works, you know. People are pretty good at putting two and two together, especially when you don't want them to. Mai tried to kill two people, you and Zuko. Guess what the rumors are going to say the reason was she did it?"

"Zuko told the Council it was because she was afraid I'd find Zuko and save him. Which," Katara pointed out, "I did. What's not to believe?"

Toph folded her arms across her chest, raised her sightless eyes to the ceiling, blew a deep breath that stirred her bangs, then slowly shook her head. "No one ever believes the official story," she replied patiently. As if explaining something to a backwards child. "Especially not with Aang storming off like he did. Only idiots believe he had something to do with any assassination attempt, but just about everyone knows how he feels about you. Get it now?"

Katara did, and replied with a heavy sigh of her own. "So you're saying even if Zuko and I play it cool, everyone's gonna think we're sneaking around together."

"Sounds about right," Toph agreed, her voice cheerful. "But hey, look at the bright side; that means you two can play kissy-face all you want!"

"I don't think I want to know what you're talking about."

The voice came from the open doorway; Toph, who'd obviously heard the newcomer's approach, smirked to herself while Katara gasped and turned to see who it was.

It was her father, of course, carrying her lunch tray and giving her an unhappy look as he entered the room and kicked the door shut behind him. "I thought you were going to downplay your recent indiscretions," he scolded his daughter as he placed the tray on her lap. "Good afternoon, Toph," he added in belated welcome.

"Hiya, Hakoda!" she replied cheerfully as she jumped to her feet. "Guess I'll be going now!" Without another word she marched out of the room, opening the door and then slamming it shut behind her.

Katara and Hakoda watched her go, then faced one another, each wearing equally unhappy expressions. "Dad, that was really rude," Katara began.

At the same time, her father said: "Why did you tell her the truth?"

They each stopped, than Katara sighed and answered her father's question. "Because Toph is really good at figuring things out. And she told me everyone's going to gossip no matter what the official story is. Do you think that's true?"

Hakoda sighed as well, but inwardly. His daughter's eyes were shining with hope, hope that she didn't have to hide her infatuation with the Fire Lord after all, hope that she could openly pursue a relationship with that troubled—and troublesome—young man. Hopes that he needed to squash here and now if he had any hope of his own of saving her from future heartbreak. "Katara," he said gently, "whether it's true or not makes no difference. You know you have to tread carefully, for all the reasons we've already discussed. Zuko knows it as well," he added, hoping to stave off an argument.

No such luck. "Yeah, well, Zuko and I are old enough to decide for ourselves how to handle things. And if people are going to talk about us no matter what we do, then why shouldn't we make the most of it and just…be together?" Her chin jutted out at a mutinous angle as she spoke.

Before Hakoda could respond, a gentle tap came at the door. "Come in," Katara called out.

Her shining eyes and wide smile told Hakoda who the newest visitor was before he even turned around. Zuko strode into the room, bowing respectfully to the Water Tribe Chief before turning his attention to Katara. "Make sure you eat all that up if you want to get back to your own rooms today," he reminded her with a smile.

Hakoda indulged in another inward sigh. He'd make no progress with Katara now; giving in to the inevitable, he rose to his feet and offered Zuko the chair. "I have some meetings to attend to," he said when the Fire Lord offered a token protest. "I'm sure you and my daughter have things to discuss, I won't keep you."

After Hakoda made his dignified exit, Katara rolled her eyes and shoved at the rice bowl Zuko was trying to tempt her with. "Not now, Zuko! Did you find him?"

Zuko gave up, replacing the rice bowl on the tray. "If I tell you yes, will you eat?" She rolled her eyes again and he shook his head grimly. "Sorry, Katara, he's already gone. I don't have a clue where he was headed, but he took Appa and flew away right after he, you know, punched me."

"Someone has to go after him, keep him from doing something he'll regret; do you think Toph would go if we asked her?" Katara once again tried to rise from her bed; this time Zuko took her by the arms and pushed her, gently back firmly, back against the pillows. He removed the tray and put it on the floor. "Zuko, we have to do something!"

"No, _I_ have to do something," he replied. "_You_ have to recover from a nasty stab wound."

Something in his voice warned Katara not to try rising again, but she continued to protest. "This is all my fault, Zuko, I have to do something about it. Make him see reason."

"Katara, for once this isn't something you can fix," Zuko said in exasperation. "Aang's furious with both of us right now; if you try sweet reason he's likely to go off on you, and then do exactly what you don't want him to do just to spite you. Hunting for Mai when he has no clue where she went will give him time to calm down, to get a little perspective."

"Or give his fury time to simmer into an eruption," Katara insisted stubbornly. "Zuko, please. We have to do something."

Zuko sighed. This argument kept going around and around in circles, and he realized the only way to end it was to do as Katara asked. "Fine. I'll see if Toph and Sokka and Suki are willing to help out. He has no reason to be mad at any of them, all right?"

"I guess," Katara muttered. She'd much rather be with them, but she understood Zuko's concerns. And her father would be dead set against her leaving her sick bed just to go on a lengthy journey to find someone who was as likely to ignore her as listen to her.

"I'd better get the gang together, then," Zuko was saying, and she nodded disconsolately. She was part of the gang; it wasn't fair that she couldn't go, but with her injury only half-healed she'd be a liability. And Zuko wasn't going either; the Fire Lord couldn't just go dashing off on a quest, even if it was to find the woman who tried to kill him. That would leave Iroh in charge, which he clearly did not want to be and which would probably cause all kinds of political headaches for Zuko when he returned.

"Promise you won't try to keep me in the dark," Katara half-asked, half-ordered.

"If you promise to eat all your lunch so you can go back to your own rooms," Zuko countered, lifting the tray back up and placing it carefully on her lap.

She grunted her assent and began picking at the cold rice and vegetables, an expression of distaste on her features. Zuko bit back a laugh; she looked just like a small child faced with a holiday gift of new underclothing. "Everything will work out, you'll see," he said soothingly, then leaned forward to press his lips against hers. "I promise."


	8. Then He Kissed Me

**Part Eight: Then He Kissed Me**

"And then he kissed me," Katara said softly.

Suki leaned forward, eyes shining. "How was it?"

Katara sighed. "Wonderful."

"Just like the first time Sokka kissed me," Suki declared, then giggled as Katara made a disgusted face. "Hey, he's not _my_ brother," she reminded her friend.

"Yeah, but he's mine and I really don't want to talk about him kissing anyone, thank you," Katara replied. "Just promise me you'll all be careful. Aang's really hurt and upset right now." She'd decided to take Suki into her confidence, partly because of what Toph had said, partly because she'd proven herself good at keeping secrets. Sokka was not to know, and Suki had agreed without hesitation, knowing very well how conflicted Sokka still was about Zuko. Not as conflicted as he had been, but still not comfortable enough with their former adversary to welcome him into the family, so to speak.

Suki had demanded details, and Katara had been pleased to share them; it had been too long since she had a girlfriend to giggle over boys with. Toph didn't count; she barely seemed to notice boys, except for the small crush she'd had on Sokka when she first joined their merry band. Suki, on the other hand, had noticed boys practically from birth. Just like Ty Lee, only in a less obvious way.

Katara was in her own rooms, finally, having forced down every bite of the bland, unappetizing lunch she'd been given. Zuko had supervised the meal, waiting until she finished the last bite before removing the tray and heading out to round up their friends.

Suki had made her way to Katara's room to assure her that they'd all agreed to search for Aang, and Mai as well. Sending out soldiers was all well and good, but when it came down to it, they trusted each other more than they trusted strangers, no matter how well trained and disciplined they might be. "Besides," Suki had pointed out, "we'll have an easier time sneaking up on

either of them if we have to."

Katara certainly hoped it wouldn't come to that. Aang was upset and mad but that had no reason to try and hide from his friends. At least, she hoped not. A shiver ran up her spine as she thought about how Aang must be feeling right now. It wasn't that she thought he would try and kill Mai deliberately, but he wasn't in full control of his emotions, either, which hadn't been a problem when he confronted Ozai.

Ugh, Ozai. Just thinking about him sent another shiver down her back. He was in a special prison awaiting…awaiting what, she wondered, not for the first time. She and Zuko had never talked about what was going to happen to his father now that Aang had taken away his Bending powers. Would he just rot in prison for the rest of his life, or would he stand trial? She'd have to ask Zuko. Sometime. Definitely not today.

She gave and accepted good-bye hugs from Suki, and went through the ritual again when her brother showed up. Toph simply waved to her from the doorway and left without a word.

After they were gone, she reconsidered her impulsive decision to tell Suki the truth, but it was too late to do anything about it. Besides, she reasoned, Suki already half-knew anyway. It wasn't nice to ask her friend to keep a secret from Sokka, but her brother would totally lose it if he knew. He was going to have to be sort of…_eased_ into the idea of his sister in a relationship with Zuko.

Speaking of whom…she looked over at the door. Nope, still shut. Well, she shouldn't expect Zuko to be able to just drop everything to sit by her bedside and wait for her to recover. Not that she felt that badly any more; it had been three days and she was heartily sick of bed rest. But if she got up and did as she wanted, started some light Bending practice, someone would walk in and scold her, and the Healers would probably make her stay in bed that much longer.

She sighed and settled back against the pillows, reaching for one of the many Water Bending scrolls she'd been gifted with. Zuko had ransacked his father's private library for her and Aang and even Toph, who clutched the bundle to her chest and dramatically announced her intention to read _every single one_…just as soon as she grew a new pair of eyes. Aang had gallantly offered to read them to her, she'd responded by punching him in the arm, and they'd all laughed as she chased him around the room, not running into a single chair or wall as she did so.

_How long,_ she wondered. _How long will it be before we're all friends again?_

_Maybe never,_ her mind whispered back.

**Elsewhere**

Aang leaned forward, resting his head on his crossed arms, legs kicked up in the air behind him as if he hadn't a care in the world. As if he weren't searching for a an almost-killer, a former friend turned deadly enemy in one morning.

As if his heart wasn't still breaking in his chest.

_Focus_, he told himself fiercely, ignoring the sting of tears in his eyes. Katara was the past, Mai was the future he was riding to find.

The only problem was, he was going to have to drag her back into the past to make things right, to bring her to justice.

Why did things have to be so complicated?

Why couldn't Katara have just kissed him and meant it?

Too many questions. He tossed restlessly onto his back. He must have kicked harder than he thought as Appa moaned reproachfully at him. "Sorry, old friend," Aang shouted, then squirmed into a more comfortable position while making sure not to do anything that might hurt the flying bison. Although how he felt anything through the saddle and layers of fur Aang wasn't sure; maybe he was just complaining more in response to Aang's mood rather than his movements?

Whatever. Aang gazed up at the clear blue sky, focusing on the occasional wispy white cloud that floated past his line of sight and off into the distance. Everything was so simple up here, far away from the world below; if he could stay up here, he would. Being the Avatar hadn't turned out anything like he'd either hoped or feared; instead, it was a hopeless muddle, just like everything else in his life.

"Toph would kick your butt right about now if she heard you wallowing in self-pity," he said aloud. A fleeting smile tickled his lips, then vanished as he realized guiltily that he'd left without saying good-bye. He was Toph's ride home, after all; how selfish of him to just leave her hanging!

Of course, if anyone could take care of themselves, it was Toph. He admired her not only for her Bending abilities—she could Bend metal, for Spirit's sake!—but because she'd never allowed her disability to be a liability. Nor, he admitted, would she ever allow herself to be hurt the way he had. Or if she was, she'd shrug it off and not let anyone see it. It would be nice to more like her. But no, he was stuck being himself, and as himself, all he could do was…be himself.

He considered that statement, then rejected it as hopelessly muddled. "Just like my brain," he mumbled. Appa made an inquiring rumble deep in his throat, and Aang raised his voice. "Sorry, Appa, just talking to myself. Just keep flying till we reach the coast. Then you'll have a nice, long rest, I promise."

Appa groaned appreciatively and redoubled his efforts. A goal in sight was better than aimlessly flying around, and it was about time Aang realized it.

**Two Days Later – The Coast**

"OK, thanks!"

Sokka turned to the others. "This guy said a girl matching Mai's description took a ferry out to the next island, that she was asking about passage to the Earth Kingdom." His expression was doubtful, and Suki was quick to pick up on it.

"And?" she prompted, then added shrewdly: "Or should I say, but?"

"But," Sokka continued doubtfully, "although the woman he described _looked_ like Mai, she didn't _sound_ like Mai." At their confused expressions he elaborated: "When I said she was quiet and sour looking, the guy shook his head and told me I must have the wrong girl. He described her as…" he hesitated and this time Toph broke in impatiently.

"As what?"

"As…really friendly and outgoing. A flirt," Sokka finished reluctantly. "When I asked him if he was sure she didn't look—well, like Ty Lee, I described her—he said no, she looked like I said. Tall, pale, dark hair, narrow eyes, but dressed in frilly pink and orange clothes and really, really friendly."

"Well, that's more than we got out of the other sailors and dock hands we spoke to," Suki said after a moment. "It's a lead. Let's follow it."

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Toph put in. "Besides, if I was Mai, and I knew the entire Fire Nation was after my head for trying to kill Zuko, then pretending to be Ty Lee would be a good idea, wouldn't it? I mean, dark and mopey may work for her but when that's what everyone's looking for then just changing clothes wouldn't do it."

Sokka and Suki considered her words, offered their agreement, and trudged over to the ticket window for the ferry. It was nice, not having to worry about money; Zuko had given them a writ that would cover all expenses in the Fire Nation and Fire Nation controlled territories, and a bag full of money apiece in case Mai had managed to get farther away than that.

They'd seen no signs of Aang, their true target, but it was just as easy to search for Mai as it was for the Avatar. Almost as a second thought, Sokka mentioned that they were looking for him to the ticket seller, a middle-aged woman with hair colored a shocking shade of purple and a heart-shaped tattoo on the back of her right hand.

"Oh, the Avatar? He flew by overhead the other day, caused quite a stir, I'll tell you!" she chuckled. "But he didn't stop. From what I saw, I'd guess he was headed the same way you young folks are."

It went right over Sokka's head that she was fishing for a "why, you aren't so much older than us" compliment, which Suki obligingly supplied as Toph shifted impatiently from foot to foot. They thanked her for the information and boarded the ferry. "I wish Aang would have just waited for us," Sokka grumbled as they found seats.

Suki shut him up by planting a firm kiss on his lips. "Stop whining, Sokka. What's done is done," she said when the kiss ended. "Just be glad we finally caught a break."

He nodded, a goofy grin on his face from the aftermath of Suki's sweet lips on his.

Toph scowled. She'd long since gotten over her crush on Sokka, but all she needed was to be traveling with the two of them acting all lovey-dovey. She agreed with Suki, however; they should just be glad they'd scored two leads in one day. Maybe the Spirits were finally smiling on them.

**The Palace**

Katara was finally—finally!—allowed to do some Bending practice. As long as she rested in between sessions. As long as the sessions only lasted a few minutes at a time. As long as she stopped immediately if she felt any serious pain. As long as… She stopped listening and promised to do whatever the Fire Nation doctor wanted, as long as she could finally get out of her room and start getting back into shape!

The only reason she kept those promises, she admitted, was because her father made sure she did. He'd been unhappy enough about Sokka going after Mai and Aang, but at least he had Katara here to fuss over, and fuss he did. Too much, in his daughter's opinion, but she suffered through it without complaint. After all, he'd had very few chances to fuss over her in the past several years.

Besides, Zuko made it all bearable. He smoothed ruffled feathers, he talked the doctor into extending the amount of time Katara was allowed to practice, he encouraged her and criticized her and teased her and acted like the wonderful friend he'd turned out to be.

And, whenever they could steal a moment to themselves, he kissed her and held her in his arms and reminded her that they were more than friends now.

She was in her room, cleaning up after her morning practice session, blushing at the thought of her last encounter with Zuko. He'd pulled her into a cleaning closet, hung with brooms and mops and shelves full of buckets and rags and soap…and a secret door that opened into a passageway that led to what had been his mother's private garden when he was a child. After teasing her with a few kisses while squeezed into the small space, he'd laughed and shown her the secret door.

The garden had been so beautiful; Zuko had ordered it restored, and even less than half-way through that process, the overgrown bushes had been heavy with his mother's favorite roses and jasmine and other flowers Katara couldn't even guess the names of.

He'd kissed her there, too, a heady, wonderful kiss beneath an overhanging arch of roses, and when the wind had showered them with loose petals it had only made the moment more magical. "This is where we'll be married," Zuko had whispered. "If you still want me in three years…" His voice had trailed off uncertainly as he peered down at her. "Too soon?"

"Are you saying…you love me?" she'd whispered, her heart racing.

He nodded. "I do. I love you. And it's OK if you don't can't say it back yet," he'd hastened to assure her, but she'd thrown her arms around him and held him close as she whispered her own love into his ear.

Oh, her father would hate that even more than he hated the idea that Zuko and Katara were seeing each other in the first place.

She made a face. "Too bad," she said aloud, then continued sponging herself clean while casting a loathing look at her bed. She was under orders to nap, not just rest, and although she hated to admit it, she was tired. She just didn't _want_ to be tired; it was like surrendering or something. Giving in to weakness. Still, Zuko had promised to have dinner with her in her room if she behaved, and she was looking forward to that moment enough to do as she'd been told.

She made another face. The sooner she was fully healed, the better. It didn't seem fair that Zuko had recovered from his poisoning quicker and more completely than she had from being stabbed.

She burst into laughter as she realized how petty her thoughts were. "Good thing I never said that out loud," she muttered, dropping the cloth back into the pretty ceramic bowl that held the water she'd been cleaning herself with. It was decorated with blue and pink flowers, no hint of Fire Nation reds or oranges on it all. She loved it, and not just because of the decorations; she loved it because Zuko had picked it out for her himself.

Not a very romantic gift, he'd admitted, but under the circumstances…she'd kissed him then, chastely, on the cheek, because she'd seen his uncle coming and kept to her word. Their relationship was still a private matter, no matter what Toph had said, and would remain that way until she and Zuko decided otherwise.

A yawn cracked her face, and she stretched and made her way to the bed. Lying back against the soft pillows, she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of kisses among the rose petals.


	9. Passionate Kisses

**Part Nine: Passionate Kisses**

Iroh stopped in the middle of the door to the legal library, mouth agape. It was early, just past dawn; he held a steaming cup of jasmine tea in one hand and a lemon cookie in the other.

His nephew, the Fire Lord, was sprawled across a table strewn with scrolls and books, face down, fully clothed, and snoring.

His head was resting on one outstretched arm; his hair had come loose from the formal topknot and the royal crown was carefully laid to one side, wedged between two oversized volumes that Zuko had apparently been studying at some point. Or perhaps he'd simply chosen them for their sturdiness; when Iroh walked into the room and tilted his head to read the spines, he frowned. Legal tomes dating from the early years of Azulon's reign. Interesting.

As interesting as the rest of the documents spread out on the table. Iroh took a moment to study the various headings and titles, a slow grin spreading across his face as he did so. Then he turned and left the room without waking his nephew.

**oOo**

Zuko started awake, staring around in bemusement. What the—where was he? He sat up and realized he'd fallen asleep in the legal library. He groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. Great, just great. He wondered what time it was, then stumbled to his feet, stretching and yawning, headed for the windows on the far wall. He opened the curtains, blinking at the light, relieved to see that the sun was still low on the horizon.

He'd spent all night here and still hadn't found what he was looking for. Oh, there was plenty of legal precedence for taking a non-Fire Nation bride, but not one that was also a Water Bender. There was even legal precedence referencing foreign concubines, but he'd quickly slammed the volume shut when he got to _that_ section; his face burned in remembered embarrassment when it finally dawned on him what exactly the text was referring to.

He sighed. The problem was, there was more information on _that_ subject than there was on marrying a foreign, low-born, Master Water Bender. And he knew he was going to need all the ammunition he could gather to present his case to the Fire Sages and the council. If it came down to it, he'd abdicate in favor of his uncle if he had to. Hell, he was already the regent until Zuko turned eighteen anyway; why not make it official?

That thought lasted for about two seconds before his shoulders drooped in defeat. "Like Katara would ever let me do something like that," he muttered, folding his arms across his chest. Like his uncle would, either. He'd already made it abundantly clear that he had no desire to do more than advise Zuko, and as little of that as he could get away with.

He was still brooding on this when he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see who it was. "Uncle," he said by way of greeting, reaching out to accept the cup of tea Iroh handed him. "Good morning. How'd you know I was here?"

"The better question is, why _are_ you here?" his uncle countered. He held a small tray in one hand and offered Zuko his choice from the heap of breakfast tarts it held. "Raspberry or strawberry?"

"One of each," his nephew decided, cramming the first one he grabbed into his mouth, the better to stall. He took his time chewing it, and Iroh waited there, humming softly to himself and gazing out the window at the spectacular view.

Zuko swallowed the last bite of the delicious tart, raspberry, decided against picking up a second one, and glanced sidelong at Iroh. "I was doing some research."

"So I see." Iroh turned to look at the table, still littered with scrolls and books. And the Fire Lord's crown, still wedged between two massive tomes. "Perhaps it's something I could help you with."

Zuko feigned nonchalance, but inside his mind was racing. What should he tell his uncle? He and Katara had decided to keep their relationship to themselves, but her father already knew, and Aang, and Toph had figured things out on her own, and of course there was Mai…honestly, with that many people in on it, would one more make any difference? Especially if that one was his uncle?

Still, it might be better to feel him out about it first. "Soooo…Uncle," he said, as casually as he could manage. He took a sip from his tea; ginger, with a hint of lemon. "Great tea," he added, sidetracked in spite of himself.

"Thank you." Iroh kept his smile to himself. "But I doubt you were researching the tea trade."

"No, not the tea trade," Zuko agreed. "Just some…legal stuff." Inwardly, he winced. Of course it was "legal stuff," he was in the legal library, for Agni's sake! "About when I turn eighteen." There, that was better. He was the Fire Lord at a young age, but not an unprecedented one, and even the Fire Lord had to follow certain laws, like not being able to marry before his eighteenth birthday.

"Questions about the regency?" Iroh prodded, pretending ignorance. "As I've already told you, _you_ are the Fire Lord. I am regent in name only, in order to placate those who worry about your youth. You should know by now, Zuko, that I am _not_ one of those." He beamed at Zuko, who smiled back.

"Right, I know." He cleared his throat nervously. "And I appreciate that, your trust in my judgment and all. I do."

"So. Then what is it about your eighteenth birthday that you're worried about?" Iroh prodded blandly. Really, it was great fun, watching his nephew squirm like this. "Is it the formal transfer of power? That ceremony won't be any more elaborate—or boring—than the one you just went through."

Zuko forced a laugh. "Right. No, it's something a little more…personal." He took a deep breath. "You know, after everything that just happened with Mai, I started thinking about what happens when I do get married. After I find the right girl," he added.

Iroh inclined his head gravely. "After that," he agreed. "What is your question?"

"What if I want to marry someone…different? Not a Fire Nation noblewoman." Then, in a half-serious grumble: "I haven't had a lot of good experiences with them lately."

Iroh's laugh was hearty, and he slapped his nephew on the shoulder. "Too true, Zuko, too true. It is good that you can laugh about it so soon."

"Yeah, well, it's that or give up on women altogether, and I'm not ready to do that," he admitted, rubbing his shoulder and trying not to wince in pain. "But, um, back on the subject of me getting married…what if I fall in love with someone from, say, the Earth Kingdom? A commoner, maybe, or, um, a merchant's daughter…"

"Or the daughter of a Southern Water Tribe chief?" Iroh put in shrewdly. Zuko started and stared at him. "Come, nephew, surely you didn't think you could keep such a secret from me! Does Katara know you want to marry her?"

Zuko raked his fingers through his hair, causing it stand even more on end than it already was. "Geez, Uncle, does everyone know? We were trying to keep it low key until Mai is dealt with. I don't need any more gossip going around about me."

"Nephew, there will always be gossip going around about you," his uncle said, not unkindly. "You are the Fire Lord; people are going to be watching your every move, listening to your every word, picking apart your every statement…and whispering about everything from how you wear your hair to the details, real or imagined, of your love life. The fact that Katara was attacked at the same time you were, and by the same person, has already caused a great deal of speculation from the highest levels on down. Surely you didn't expect your official explanation to the be only one people would consider."

This time the hand he placed on Zuko's shoulder was gentle and sympathetic. "For the record, nephew, I wish you both the best. And I wouldn't spend too much time searching for legal precedence on the matter; no Fire Lord in written history has ever married someone who was not a member of the nobility, and only a handful have taken husbands or wives from any of the other nations. But the fact of the matter is, _you_ are the Fire Lord. Who you choose to marry will be your decision. Yes, it will have political ramifications; yes, if Katara is your choice and agrees to marry you when she reaches her legal majority, you will face many problems, but it is still your choice to make. And I will support that choice," he concluded, falling silent and once again contemplating the view.

Zuko let out his breath in a whoosh of air, feeling overwhelmed and humbled by his uncle's love and support. "Thanks," was all he managed to say.

**oOo**

Katara was eating her breakfast, for once without anyone nagging her to do so. She felt hungry, really hungry, for the first time since she'd woken up in the infirmary. Hungry enough to dress as quickly as possible and head down the hall to the dining area set aside for guests of the palace. This was her first full day as an official non-invalid and she intended to take full advantage of it.

She met her father half-way down the hall and gave him a broad grin in welcome. "Good morning!" she chirped.

"Good morning," Hakoda replied, somewhat bemusedly. "I'm happy to see you in such good spirits today."

"I know, it's kind of weird, isn't it?" Katara agreed, the grin fading. "There's not really so much to be happy about. I guess I'm just glad to be feeling better. Plus, you know," she glanced around before returning her attention to her father and adding in a whisper: "It feels really good, being in love."

She waited to see if he would comment on her declaration, but aside from a tiny wince, he said nothing, merely smiled at her and offered her his arm. They entered the dining area that way, to be greeted by Iroh and Zuko. Hakoda paused, somewhat taken aback by the unexpected presence of the Fire Lord and his uncle, but Katara tugged on his arm and escorted him to the table. "Good morning!" she said, as cheerily as she'd greeted her father.

Zuko offered a formal bow and Iroh returned her greeting just as cheerfully. "We thought we might join you this morning, since so many of our friends have been forced to leave us."

That sobered Katara immediately. She'd been trying not to think about her brother, Toph and Suki chasing after Aang who was chasing after Mai. "Yeah," she said in subdued tones. "It is kind of empty here now." Not that she'd been eating anywhere except the sick room or her own chambers, but it was the idea of it. "Any word?" she asked hopefully.

Zuko shook his head. "Too early," was his brief reply.

"I still think I should have gone with them." Surprisingly it was Hakoda who voiced that opinion rather than his daughter. "I've left you and your brother alone to run wild for so long, it seems to me it's time I tried to become part of your lives again," he added by way of explanation.

Katara smiled and leaned up on tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek. "Dad, we know you love us, but we've been doing a lot of stuff on our own. Sokka can take care of himself and anyone with him. Besides," she added, "you have all that treaty stuff to deal with. Don't you and the Northern Water Tribe leaders have a meeting today?"

The celebrations were officially over, and the real work had begun almost as soon as Zuko had recovered from his poisoning. However, this reminder of duty only caused Hakoda's long face to grow even longer. "Yes," he said with a sigh. "Another meeting. Who knew the end of the war would result in so much paperwork?"

"Tell me about it," Zuko muttered. He and Hakoda exchanged understanding glances before each looked away. Katara took it as a hopeful sign; maybe her father would come around to the idea that she and Zuko loved each other and that…her own face fell as she completed the thought. _And one day, I'll be the Fire Lady. Or will I? Is that even allowed, for the Fire Lord to marry a foreigner? A commoner? A _Water Bender_?_

She pasted a hasty smile on her face when Zuko gave her an enquiring frown, responding to his unasked question with a quick shake of her head. "Ooh, are those _emphara_ berries?" she asked, heading for the heavily laden buffet.

Worries about the future weren't going to dim her appetite, not today. Not when she was finally, officially, allowed to resume Bending practice. The knife wound had healed up nicely, especially when helped along by some Water Bender Healing.

She tuned out the discussion Iroh had started with her father and concentrated on breakfast. When Zuko casually took the seat next to hers, however, she couldn't help smiling at him and surreptitiously taking his hand under the edge of the table. He squeezed her fingers in return and they finished their meal that way, eating one handed but each refusing to relinquish their hold no matter how awkward it became.

Iroh and Hakoda politely pretended not to notice, continuing their own conversation and breakfasts, although Katara's father seemed to lose his appetite rather suddenly. He did, however, drink two cups of tea and seemed inclined to linger long after Iroh was finished, shooting glances at the two youngsters out of the corner of his eye until Zuko's uncle took matters into his own hands. He rose to his feet, loudly proclaiming his intention of escorting Hakoda to the meeting. "I believe you'll be late if I don't show you the quickest way to the conference room," he declared.

Hakoda rose reluctantly to his feet, mumbled a good-bye to Zuko and planted a kiss on the top of his daughter's head. Then he allowed Iroh to tow him out of the room, the door closing firmly behind them. Zuko and Katara heard Iroh telling the guards outside the door to allow the Fire Lord and his guest their privacy as they finished their morning meal.

As soon as they were alone, Zuko swooped in to deliver a fervent kiss on Katara's lips. She returned the kiss eagerly. Her lips parted beneath his, just the tiniest bit, but Zuko took immediate advantage, slipping the tip of his tongue into her mouth and causing her to gasp as the kiss deepened. She closed her eyes and clung to him with both hands on his forearms, their thighs touching and a delicious curl of heat flowing through her body. _This must be how Zuko feels all the time,_ she thought dizzily as the kiss ended.

Zuko stared at Katara, marveling at the difference between kissing her and kissing Mai. Even when he and Mai had been together the first time, before he broke up with her, her kisses had been cool and delicate, with no fire behind them. Katara, on the other hand, kissed him with so much enthusiasm that he had to cut the kiss short before it turned into something he wasn't sure she was ready for…and that they certainly couldn't do in a public dining area.

He felt himself flushing at the direction his thoughts had taken. Katara seemed to have that effect on him every time he saw her now, and he shifted uncomfortably as his body continued its demands that he and Katara do more than kissing.

Fortunately she didn't seem to notice his sudden discomfort as she leaned her head on his shoulder. He put his arms around her and kissed her on the forehead, the only part of her face he could comfortably reach. "Zuko, if we're trying to keep our relationship a secret, I think we're doing a really lousy job of it," she finally said.

He grinned. "Yeah," he agreed. "We are." With a great deal of reluctance he pulled away from her as she lifted her head from his shoulder. "But with any luck we won't have to do it for very long. I've been doing some research," he added shyly. "Checking out the legal precedents. It'll take a while but I don't want anyone else helping me. Well, except for Uncle," he added with a grin. "He knows."

"I figured that from the way he hustled my dad out of the room," Katara replied with a grin of her own. "At least he approves…right?"

Her grin had turned into a frown and Zuko hastened to reassure her. "He does. He'll do whatever he can to help us."

Katara sighed. "You know, I almost wish you hadn't become the Fire Lord," she said wistfully. "It would make things so much easier if I could just take you back home with me, Dad could marry us and that would be that."

"Well, it's not going to be that easy," Zuko replied. "In the Fire Nation, the bride and groom both have to be eighteen, no exceptions. Well, two exceptions," he modified. At Katara's enquiring glance, he elaborated: "If one of them is not expected to live for long, or if, you know, if there's a baby on the way." He felt his face flushing as he said that last part.

Katara blushed as well, turning her face away and finding her breakfast plate and utensils suddenly fascinating. "Um, yeah," she murmured. "Well…uh, I think I promised one of the Northern Water Benders that I'd practice with them after breakfast today…"

"Yeah, and I have, um, a lot of paperwork and meetings and stuff," Zuko agreed, rising hastily to his feet. "So, um, can I escort you back to your room? Or to the Bending practice arena?" he added, feeling his flush intensify and looking anywhere but at Katara. After all, he didn't mean to imply that he wanted to be in her room with her, not after just telling her about the baby thing.

Katara avoided his eyes as well, cheeks flaming. "No, that's OK," she stuttered. "I'll just…I'll just…" She dashed to the door, flung it open, and headed down the hall at a hasty trot.

Great. Just great. "Zuko, you're an idiot," he muttered to himself as he, too left the room, although at a dignified walk, head high, daring one of the guards to say anything about his flushed cheeks. Fortunately for them, neither did, although they did exchange amused glances behind the Fire Lord's back as they fell in behind him.

Zuko brooded on the possibility that he'd made a major mistake with Katara just then. She couldn't possibly think he just wanted to…that all he was interested in was…no, she was too smart for that, he decided. After all, they'd been talking marriage with no embarrassment; hadn't he made it clear that was what he intended?

Then again, maybe he hadn't. He hadn't officially proposed or anything, but he thought it was too soon for that. Wasn't it? Or was that what Katara expected?

He continued to brood on the matter off and on throughout the morning. Fortunately he became extremely busy as the day wore on and was able to concentrate on the things he was supposed to be dealing with. Funny how much easier it was to be the leader of a nation than a young man in love.


	10. This Kiss

**Part Ten: This Kiss**

Aang slid from Appa's back with a stretch and a groan. Funny, he never noticed any twinges or pains when he was flying with friends, only when he was flying alone. Too bad Katara wasn't here, she could fix him up in no time…

No, she couldn't. He didn't think he'd ever be able to bear the feeling of her hands on him ever again. No matter how much time passed, no matter how old he got, he knew he'd never get over her. Never. Stupid fortunetellers and their stupid fortunes; Katara was going to end up married to a stupid powerful Bender and it wasn't going to be him at all.

He kicked at a pebble, then raised it into the air and blew it away, listening as it rattled to a stop further down the empty dirt road Appa had landed next to. There was a wide verge on one side with a low cattle fence, and a long row of hedges on the opposite side guarding some kind of crops. Whatever. The important thing was that Mai's trail seemed to be leading this way, towards the distant mountains, but he wanted to make sure he didn't overshoot his target. Better to catch up with her here in the flatlands, where it would be harder for her to hide from him.

"I bet she doesn't even know I'm coming after her," he declared, turning to look at Appa. The big furball just stuck his tongue out and panted thirstily. "Ah, sorry, boy," Aang said, hurrying back to his friend's side. "I'll bring us some water, just give me a few minutes to find some." He gave the flying buffalo an affectionate pat on the head and sped off toward the tree line a few yards distant.

**oOo**

Mai watched from beneath her hiding place as Aang dismounted from his flying bison's back, stretching and making faces like it had been an uncomfortable ride. Good. It was bad enough he was this close to finding her; at least he wasn't going to be on top of his game. If he was too busy rubbing his back to notice the number of hiding places that currently surrounded him, how vulnerable he was to attack, all the better for her.

Not that she planned to attack him; at least, not unless absolutely necessary. She was in enough trouble as it was; she didn't need "Assassin of the Avatar" added to her list of crimes. Never mind her earlier vows to stop at nothing to ensure her continued existence; her emotions had cooled enough over the ensuing days on the run for her to come to her senses. No point in adding to her list of crimes if she didn't have to.

Besides, she had nothing against the kid. As she continued to study him, she realized how very young he was, never mind a hundred years as a human icicle. He'd been twelve when he was thawed out, or so she'd been told, and now he was only a year older. Thirteen. Only three years younger than herself.

She turned her thoughts away angrily. She wasn't here to learn more about Aang, she was here trying to avoid a death sentence, and he was nothing more than an obstacle to be overcome. With any luck he'd just get back on the stupid bison and fly away so she could see which direction he chose and make sure she went the opposite way.

No such luck. He headed off at top speed, all right, but on foot and towards the trees, probably in search of water. The bison watched as he left, then raised his head to the air and gave a deep sniff.

Mai stiffened beneath the hedgerow by the side of the road. It was a thick line of bushes that separated a farmer's field from the road she'd been about to cross when some sixth sense had sent her diving for cover just as Aang swooped into view and made his abrupt, dust-raising landing not fifty yards away from her. Fortunately the bison had made enough noise to cover the coughing fit she'd endured for a few seconds until the dust settled back down and she could breathe again.

And now, instead of just flying off again he was getting water for Appa, probably intending to make camp while she was stuck under this stupid bush at least until darkness fell. That is, unless of course the stupid bison sniffed her out; he had raised his ponderous head and was smelling the air suspiciously, first in one direction and then another. She held her breath until he suddenly let out a low moaning sound that was answered by one of the farmer's cow-bisons. She watched as one of the stupid creatures (and that wasn't just her frayed nerves this time; they really were incredibly stupid creatures) wandered over near where Appa was resting and stuck its head over the low fence in an enquiring manner.

The buffalo turned and sniffed delicately at the other beast's nose, and the deep brown cow-bison sniffed back with the same amount of interest. Relieved, Mai let out her breath and squirmed into a more comfortable position. She was stuck here for the duration; nothing to do about it but settle down and wait it out. She risked a quick sip from her water skin, if only to clear the remaining dust from her throat, then rested her chin on her folded arms and watched the flying bison flirting with the cow-bison, or whatever it was doing, out of sheer boredom.

**oOo**

"Look! Isn't that Appa?"

Sokka craned his head over Suki's shoulder. "Where?" When he spotted the mound of white fur by the side of the road, he blew a great sigh of relief. "Yup, can't mistake that furball for any other," he said. "Can't you make this cart go any faster? We don't want to lose him just when we've finally found him!"

Suki looked at him with an irritable expression on her face. "You're welcome to take over the driving whenever you like," she said frostily, and Sokka slunk back to his own seat just behind hers.

"Uh, no, thanks," he stuttered in reply. Suki had proven to be the only one who could manage the miserable ostrich-horses they'd hired, along with the covered cart in which the three of them now rode. Toph was curled up in the back, snoring away, blissfully asleep. _Man, that girl could sleep through anything, _Sokka thought enviously, then reached back and grabbed her foot, giving it a good yank. "Wake up, snoozles, we found him!"

Great. Just perfect. As if Aang wasn't enough for her to deal with, now she had to contend with his annoying friends. And something was crawling along the back of her leg and she was covered in filth…for a second, a brief second, Mai considered just giving herself up; if this was what the rest of her life was destined to be like, it wasn't worth it.

Yes it was. Life was always worth clinging to, no matter how bad the circumstances. She, Mai Lah Bin, was no quitter. The hell with the dirt and the discomfort and the invading insect life; she would just outwait the lot of them, then be on her way.

**oOo**

"Lord Iroh, may I speak with you a moment?"

Iroh stopped and looked over his shoulder, making sure a welcoming smile warmed his features. After days of avoiding any talk about the imminent joining of their two families, was Chief Hakoda finally going to broach the subject? "Of course, my friend, of course. Would you care to join me in a cup of tea?" He gestured toward his office and waited as the Water Tribe leader stepped into the small, cluttered space.

Iroh closed the door behind them, ensuring privacy for whatever Hakoda wanted to discuss, whether it be the one on both of their minds or some matter of state that needed to be worked out.

"It's about the Fire Lord's relationship with my daughter," Hakoda began abruptly, then stopped, apparently not sure how to continue.

"Yes? What about it?" Iroh asked as he warmed the tea pot with his hands. He still felt a private thrill at being able to use his Bending abilities without having to hide or disguise them in front of others. He offered Hakoda a cup of the steaming brew, then sipped appreciatively at his own as he waited for the other man to continue.

"How do you…feel about it? Does it concern you?" Hakoda finally asked. He took one polite sip of his tea before placing the cup on the edge of Iroh's small writing desk. The two men were seated across from each other in the visitor's chairs; Iroh felt it was more conducive to the kind of confidences he was hoping to encourage than if they were more formally separated.

He was glad he'd chosen to sit where he had. He leaned forward and gazed earnestly into the Chief's blue eyes, so like those of his children. "Truthfully? I feel it is one of the best things to ever happen to my nephew. And although I can't speak for Katara, I hope it is the same for her. Although," he added with a gentle smile as Hakoda's expression changed from hopeful to chagrined, "I sense you do not necessarily share my optimism for their future."

"They're both still very young," Hakoda murmured. "Things could change a great deal between now and…"

"And when they are of legal age to wed in the Fire Nation?" Iroh prompted when his guest fell silent again.

Hakoda nodded, and Iroh went on, still in the same gentle voice: "It must be difficult, knowing your children have matured so much in your absence." He raised a hand when Hakoda seemed about to protest. "That was not a criticism, Chief Hakoda, merely an observation. I've been told that women of the Southern Water Tribes are able to marry at a younger age than they are here, is that true?"

Hakoda nodded unhappily; he could tell how the conversation was going to end up, and it obviously wasn't where he'd hoped it would. "Yes. Many women are wives and mothers by their sixteenth birthdays. But usually their marriages were arranged by their parents or other family members."

Iroh nodded in understanding. "It is that way here for many as well, especially for members of the nobility. Is there something in particular that you object to in my nephew? Zuko has many faults and the two of them spent almost a year as enemies before they joined forces. Are you worried that the Fire Lord might revert to what might be considered old habits?"

He'd managed to use Zuko's name, rank, and relationship to Iroh in that little speech, a subtlety that wasn't lost on Hakoda. "No, I believe in him, in his desire for peace and in his change of heart."

"Actually, it was more a change in his understanding of honor than a change to his true nature," Iroh corrected, taking another sip of his tea, watching carefully to see if Hakoda understood him. "Do you know how he received his scar?"

Hakoda shook his head. "I presumed in battle of some sort."

A shadow passed over Iroh's face. "Of some sort, yes. I suggest you ask him about it, the next time you speak in private. It might lay to rest any lingering doubts you have as to my nephew's character. And his suitability as a potential bridegroom," he added with a small grin.

"As long as Katara doesn't have to deal with people taking about her suitability as a potential bride," Hakoda burst out.

Ah, finally. The true cause of his distress. "You fear she will be rejected by my people if she and Zuko decide to marry."

"You don't?" Hakoda shot back as he rose to his feet, rubbing at his temples as if his head ached. "You don't think there'll be problems if Zuko attempts to take a foreign bride, one not even nobly born?"

"She is a chief's daughter," Iroh pointed out. "She is a hero in her own right, the girl who helped save the Avatar and finally bring an end to a hundred years of war. Yes, there are many who will object, but there are just as many who will welcome her. Such as myself," he added firmly. He, too, rose to his feet and gently touched Hakoda on the shoulder. "Chief, the youngsters we love have traveled difficult roads to get to where they are now. They have faced many decisions that would have paralyzed older and wiser heads and met challenges that neither of us know about. Yet they came through with their honor and ideals intact, and look where we stand now because of them: on the brink of true and lasting peace. That is the legacy they leave behind even if they accomplish nothing more for the rest of their lives." His face split in a broad grin. "And between you and me, I don't believe either of them are the type to rest on their laurels."

"No, I suppose they're not," Hakoda said slowly. It was clear Iroh's words were having an impact on him; all to the good. "Nor are they the type to back down from a challenge, or avoid something just because it's difficult. They've both proven that in more ways than I can count." His face, which had been so grim, softened with a grateful smile. "Thank you, Lord Iroh. You've given me a great deal to think about." He bowed, and Iroh returned the courtesy, watching with a complacent smile as Hakoda left the room.

If he'd managed to contribute in some small way to his nephew's future happiness, he was content.

**oOo**

Katara was in the garden the next morning, practicing her Bending, when her father approached her. She hugged him in greeting and asked how the latest round of negotiations was going.

"Slowly," he grunted, then sat down on the stone bench facing the small pond where Katara had been refining her skills at wave manipulation. The turtle-ducks quacked their disappointment when the water settled back to its original stillness, but Katara just laughed as she joined her father on the bench.

He looked at, really looked at her, for the first time, and wasn't sure how to process what he saw. She was no longer the little girl he'd left behind in the South Pole, nor was she even the same strong-willed, stubborn teenager he'd been faced with when she joined him only a few short months ago. What he saw now, what he reluctantly admitted to seeing, was a young woman whose childhood was not so far behind her as to be entirely gone from her features, but far enough away that full adulthood was rapidly taking its place.

When he tried to explain his new-found understanding to her, however, she simply laughed and squeezed his hand. "Oh, Dad, don't worry! I'll always be your little girl."

"No, sweetheart, you won't," Hakoda replied with a wistful smile. "You're a woman, I see that now. I've known it for a long time, here," he tapped the side of his head, "but not here." This time he tapped his chest over his heart. "And now you're in love with one of the most powerful men in the world. I just can't help worrying about you."

"You'd worry about me if I was in love with anyone," Katara said, trying to keep the tone light.

"Yes, I suppose I would," Hakoda acknowledged. "Which is why I promise you I won't interfere in your romance with Zuko any more."

"Thanks, Dad, that means a lo—wait, what do you mean, any _more_?" Katara demanded, sitting up straighter and turning to face her father suspiciously.

Before Hakoda could respond they were interrupted by the arrival of Prince Zuko himself, who stopped abruptly when he saw Katara wasn't alone. He started to stammer out an apology when Hakoda rose to his feet and raised a hand to stop the Fire Lord's words. "I was just heading back to the negotiating table; I'll see you later this afternoon, when you and Lord Iroh join us."

Katara and Zuko watched as he strode away. "Is something wrong?"

Katara shook her head and patted the seat next to her. Zuko sat, still looking uneasily after her father. "Are you sure?"

"He said he's not going to interfere in my love life," Katara replied, grinning as Zuko grunted in surprise.

"Huh, I could have sworn he hated the fact that we're together," he said.

"Oh, he does," Katara replied with a giggle. "But he's trying to be all noble and self-sacrificing or something. At any rate, it means he won't be glowering over us all the time, and your uncle doesn't have to drag him off to any more imaginary meetings."

Zuko sighed as she twined her fingers through his and rested her head on his shoulder. "I only wish they were _all_ imaginary meetings," he grumbled. "Sometimes I think I'd rather just chuck it all and run off again." His eyes took on a far-away glaze as he considered the enticing impossibility his imagination was tempting him with. "Just think about it, Katara," he said with real longing in his voice. "Just the two of us, hitting the road, having adventures…"

"Ruining our reputations, leaving our friends in the lurch, making your uncle take on a job he really doesn't want," Katara murmured into his ear, bringing reality crashing back down on him again. "Unless you want to marry me first, of course."

Whoa, he hadn't expected her to say anything like that! Zuko stared at Katara, who gazed back at him expressionlessly for about a second before doubling over in laughter. "Oh, Zuko!" she gasped when she regained enough of her breath to speak again. "The look on your face! Priceless!" Then she was laughing again while Zuko flushed red and considered slinking off to one of the meetings he was currently avoiding.

Katara sensed his discomfort and tamped down on her hilarity. "Zuko? I'm sorry, I was just teasing."

"I know," he said, taking her hand back in his and offering a reassuring smile. "It's still something I have to get used to. Uncle's been the only one who ever teased me my whole life," he admitted quietly. "But getting back to the subject of marriage…"

Katara blushed and turned her head away, then looked back at him. "I thought we couldn't get married until we were both eighteen," she reminded him.

"That doesn't mean we can't be betrothed before then," Zuko countered. It was his turn to look away, at the turtle-ducks, the trees, anything but Katara. "If you want to, I mean."

"Are you kidding me? I thought you'd never ask!" was Katara's enthusiastic reply. "I guess we'll still have to keep it hush-hush, though."

"I've been thinking about that," Zuko replied. This time he took both her hands in his, gazing intently into her wide blue eyes. "We can make a formal announcement after your birthday, that's four months from now, right?" She nodded. "Then that'll give us two years, and give everyone time to get used to the idea." He winced; that hadn't come out quite the way he planned, but Katara was nodding thoughtfully.

"Yeah, it's probably going to take a while for people to get used to us being together." Her expression turned troubled. "Do you think there'll be problems with me not being Fire Nation, or nobility even?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," he replied firmly. "Sooo….I guess that's a yes? You'll marry me in two years?"

Katara threw her arms around him. "Yes, it's a yes, silly!"

Zuko hugged her in return, then captured her lips for a kiss that made him giddy. Or was it her agreeing to marry him that sent his head spinning in such a wonderful way? No matter; he was giddy, she was giddy if her expression was anything to go by, and they were going to make this work no matter what obstacles life put in their way.

At least her father wasn't going to be one of them, not if what Katara said was true. Zuko would make a formal request for her hand before the public announcement, of course, and he only hoped Hakoda would cooperate. Knowing that they intended to wait would probably help.

Now, if only they could put this ugly business about Mai behind them, things would be perfect. Well, no, not perfect; there was still the Avatar's hurt feelings to consider. Zuko clenched his jaw unconsciously as he considered The Aang Problem, then deliberately put such thoughts aside. He was sitting in a beautiful garden with the woman he loved in his arms and no meetings requiring his attention for a good hour or so; he was crazy if he let himself think about anything except the present moment and the overwhelming sense of happiness he was feeling right now.

Apparently Katara agreed with him; she nestled her head under his chin as they broke from the kiss and wrapped her arms even more tightly around his chest. "You just went somewhere and I'm pretty selfish; stay with me for a while, will you? The world and the peace talks can wait a while longer, can't they?"

Zuko kissed the top of her head; she was wearing her hair down today instead of in one of the elaborate Fire Nation up-do's she'd been sporting lately, and he liked it. "Sorry, habit. It's hard to stop being the Fire Lord sometimes."

Katara released her hold on him and looked up at him mischievously. "Oh, really?" she asked with a mock pout. "Then maybe I need to do something to keep your attention on me!"

Zuko was about to lean forward to kiss those tempting red lips when he was suddenly doused with water, soaking his head. Katara was laughing again, and this time he joined in before grabbing her as she darted from the bench in an attempt to escape whatever wrath he intended to rain down on her. "Oh no you don't," he growled, catching hold of her and wrestling her to the ground. "No Bending to get my attention unless it's an emergency!"

She laughed again, hair spread out around her on the grass in glorious disarray. In the pond, a turtle-duck quacked disapprovingly; overhead, a bird was singing, and in his arms, beneath his body, lay the woman he loved. Zuko gave into the impulse to kiss her once again, not the sweet, tender kiss they'd shared moments ago, but a hungry kiss that surprised him as much as it did Katara.

She responded by arching her back and pressing her body more closely to his. He'd been holding her arms; as soon as he released them she pulled him even closer, twining her fingers through his hair and opening her mouth just the slightest bit when his tongue tip found its way to her lips. The kiss deepened as she hesitantly allowed her own tongue to explore the inside of Zuko's mouth, and he moaned as he felt his desire for her manifest itself somewhere south of his waistband.

Katara's heart was racing, and she felt heat flooding through her as she realized that Zuko's body was…was…she wasn't sure what the word was, but knew there had to be one, a way to describe what she was feeling against her abdomen, the way her own lower parts were making themselves known to her in a new and exciting and slightly terrifying way. She wanted something, but wasn't sure what, and when Zuko ground his hips against hers she gasped at the rush of pure pleasure that movement caused. It felt scary, it felt good, and she wanted to keep feeling it…

That was when Zuko rolled off her and lay, panting, staring at the sky. "Katara, I'm sorry," he said, covering his eyes with his forearm. "I didn't mean…I shouldn't have…"

She leaned up on one elbow and placed a finger over his lips. "Shh," she counseled. "It's not like I was pushing you away. I know this isn't exactly the most private place for us to…to…" Words failed her again and she flushed from head to toe. "Make love," she finally whispered, feeling inexpressibly naughty as she did so.

Before Zuko could respond, they heard footsteps approaching and scrambled to their feet, Katara brushing grass out of her hair and skirts. Zuko simply straightened his back, ran his hands down the front of his tunic to straighten it as well, and stood waiting with an imperious look on his face to see who was in such a hurry to interrupt the Fire Lord's rare moment of private time.

It was one of the palace couriers, carrying a small scroll case from a messenger hawk clutched in one hand. "My lord," he said with a deep bow before offering the case to Zuko. "The Avatar has been seen heading in the same direction as a woman matching the Lady Mai's description. It's also believed your envoys are on their trails as well."

Suddenly Zuko was all business, and Katara stood quietly to one side while he read the scroll. When he finished he glanced doubtfully at the message, then at the messenger. "Are you sure? It says here the woman was wearing pink and flirting with all the men on the ship."

The messenger offered a respectful shrug. "She is presumed to have taken on a disguise, my Lord."

Zuko nodded. "Of course. Thank you," he added, earning a startled look from the messenger half-way into his bow. The man finished the movement and took off at a trot while Zuko re-read the small piece of parchment."

"It sounds like she's decided to imitate Ty Lee," Katara offered, and Zuko nodded in agreement.

"Smart move on her part if she did," he said. "It makes more sense than if she just threw on a cloak and kept to herself like she usually does."

The mood was decidedly unromantic now, and Zuko offered Katara an apologetic kiss and squeeze of the hand. "Sorry, I guess it's back to work."

"For me, too," Katara agreed, her voice and eyes regretful. "I'm on that committee of Water Tribes my father put together, and we're supposed to meet after Bending practice. Which," she added with a glance at the sun, "I've already missed. I'd better get back to my room and change."

"I'll walk you," Zuko offered, holding out his hand. Katara took it in hers and smiled at him. When they reached the main path, however, she let go and simply walked by his side. Just two friends out for a morning stroll, or at least, that's how she hoped it looked, surreptitiously brushing a few stray blades of grass from her skirt.

If the courier turned out to be something of a gossip who broadcast his own opinion as to the relationship between the Fire Lord and the Water Bender, that was something the two would have to find out later in the day, when all hell broke loose in the Fire Nation Council.

* * *

_A/N: Long wait over, hoping it's been worth it. Yes, things are heating up between Our Hero and Our Heroine, as is likely when you have two teenagers in love, but no, this is not going to become an M rated story; sorry if that disappoints but I hope everything else satisfies. And I'm sure you'll all chime in to tell me! :)_


	11. Kiss and Say Goodbye

**Part Eleven: Kiss and Say Good-Bye**

Aang had mixed feelings upon returning to Appa to find Toph, Suki and Sokka waiting for him; consternation, a touch of pleased relief, a glower of sullen resentment, all passed across his expressive features as he stopped by Appa's head. "Wow. That was fast," he finally said. "I mean, I was _flying_; how did you catch up with me this quickly?"

"Boats, carts and shoe leather," Sokka shot back smartly. Then he glanced over at Toph and amended his statement: "Or foot leather, as the case may be."

Toph snorted but otherwise refrained from adding anything to the conversation, such as it was. It was Suki who stepped forward and laid a comforting hand Aang's arm. "We were worried about you," she said softly. "So we came after you. It's what friends do."

There was no reproach in her tone, but Aang felt it nonetheless. He felt the tight clenching in his gut loosen just a little, though, and was able to admit to himself that he was kinda-sorta glad they cared enough to come after him. "There's nothing to worry about, I'm fine," he mumbled.

"Yeah, sure you are, Twinkle Toes." That was Toph, stomping in with no finesse, as always. "You're so fine you punched the Fire Lord and left on a witch-hunt all on your lonesome. That's soooo how you _always_ handle things." She shook her head in her version of an exasperated eye-roll. "Look, Sparky and the Sugar Queen are worried that you're so upset you'll lose control and do something you'll regret. We're just here to make sure you don't, that's all."

_Oh, yeah, a born diplomat, that's Toph,_ Suki thought in exasperation as Aang stiffened and glared at the three of them. "What? You think I need…babysitting? I'm the Avatar, for Spirit's sake!" The glare deepened. "Just because Katara doesn't like me the way I like her doesn't mean I'm gonna go crazy and…and, what? Kill Mai?"

An uncomfortable silence greeted his meant-to-be sarcastic statement, and Aang realized that was exactly what they feared. His glare turned withering, his voice dripping with scorn. "If I didn't kill _Ozai_, why would I kill _Mai_?"

"Because she tried to kill Katara," Suki pointed out gently. "And broken heart or not, you still love her. Sometimes we do things because of love that we'd never do under other circumstances. You know that."

Gradually the heat in his face cooled. "Yeah, I guess," he replied. "But I still wouldn't do anything as stupid as killing Mai. All life is valuable. And I guess I kind of understand why she did what she did. I don't agree with it, I don't like it," he was quick to point out, "but I kind of understand it."

From her hiding place in the hedge, Mai found herself holding her breath. He understood why she'd gone a little crazy…no, strike that: why she'd gone stark raving mad at being dumped for some Water Tribe peasant who Zuko had known for, what, a year? Aang understood, because he was in the exact same position. And he didn't plan to kill her. Well, good, since she had no intention of being killed. Or caught. Resolutely, she forced herself to view the small group before her as nothing more than a set of obstacles to be overcome. Or, in this case, out waited. Never mind the part of her that longed to talk to Aang, to ask him how he managed to control his own obvious desire to punish those who'd hurt him so badly…or at least, how he managed to keep it to a single punch to his romantic rival rather than a knife in the ribs.

The group was back to bickering, and she continued to listen as Aang tried to get them to leave him. "Look, I'm grateful for your concern, I really am…"

"Liar," Toph muttered before Sokka could shush her.

Aang gave Toph a hard look before continuing. "I just need to do this on my own."

"Yeah, but four pairs of eyes are better than one," Sokka argued. "Ouch!" he yelped, then looked at Toph with a hurt expression as he rubbed his side, where she'd just punched him. "What was that…oh, yeah. Sorry. Anyway, three pair of eyes and one pair of amazingly sensitive feet are better than one pair of eyes and regular feet..." He tapered off in confusion, then sighed and plowed on. "Look, just let us help you, Aang. We all want the same thing, to catch Mai and bring her back to face justice."

"No, you want to gut her like a fish for what she did to your sister," Toph contradicted him matter-of-factly. "But you won't, because you're not a cold-blooded killer. None of us are. We're Team Avatar, remember? Emphasis on the 'Team', guys." She moved to stand next to Aang. "We help each other because we're friends, and that's what friends do, like Fan-Girl here said. So you may as well get used to us, cause we're not going anywhere."

Aang sighed and looked at them once again. "OK, Team Avatar it is," he said after a moment. "But I still want a little time to myself, if you don't mind. There's a town not too far up the road; meet me there later?"

Toph looked as if she were about to say something, then reconsidered and kept her mouth shut. Suki and Sokka glanced at each other, then turned back to Aang with identically doubtful expressions on their faces. It was Sokka, however, who shrugged and said: "If that's what you want, fine. We'll take the cart and meet you later. By morning, OK?"

"OK," Aang agreed, understanding the implied threat; show up or we come after you again.

Suki leaned down to offer him a quick kiss on the cheek, then returned to the cart and climbed aboard. Sokka joined her, but Toph lingered a moment to whisper something in Aang's ear. He nodded curtly in response to whatever it was she said, then watched as she joined the other two, deliberately stepping on Sokka's toes as she clambered over the side of the cart and settled into the back.

Aang watched as they left, waiting until they disappeared from view before returning to Appa's side. "They're gone," he said loudly. "It's OK, Mai, you can come out now. We need to talk."

**The Fire Lord's Palace**

When Zuko walked into his office, he was surprised to see there was already someone inside, standing respectfully to the side of his desk but in the office nonetheless. Where no one should be except Zuko himself; how had he managed to get past the guards? Oh yeah, there hadn't been any on duty while Zuko was elsewhere. "Protocol Minister," Zuko said as the man offered a bow in greeting. "What brings you here today?"

Ketsu Ming-Na heard the frost in the Fire Lord's voice and hurried to explain himself. "Normally I would not intrude, my lord, but it was vitally important that I speak to you in private, before this afternoon's council meeting. To forestall a potential…problem."

Zuko raised an eyebrow at that but nodded for the man to continue, even as he moved around and deliberately sat himself behind his massive wooden desk.

"It has come to my attention that there is a chance that you have formed a personal relationship with a young lady."

"And if I have?" Outwardly he was calm, but inside Zuko was fuming. Rumors again! Rumors that were serious enough to cause the Protocol Minister to ambush him in his own private sanctuary.

"My lord, if these rumors are true, it could have profound effects on not only the future of the Fire Nation, but on the current peace negotiations," Ming-Na continued, the slight rising of his voice at the end of the statement the only sign of the agitation he was apparently doing his best to hide. His expression remained neutral, but there was something in his eyes that warned Zuko he'd best tread carefully during this conversation. "Is it true you've entered into a relationship with the Southern Water Tribe Water Bender, Katara?"

Wow, a blunt, straightforward question. Zuko hadn't been expecting that; usually the man spoke in nothing but circumlocutions and veiled hints and delicate probing questions. He must be really, really upset about this. However, a straightforward question deserved a straightforward answer; Zuko had no intention of following his father's example of leadership, including lying to his own ministers. "Yes," he said simply, and waited for the reaction.

Ming-Na blinked, the corners of his mouth twitched, but otherwise he maintained his outward composure. "I see," he said after a long moment. "And have you considered all the repercussions of such a relationship at this time?"

"I've been doing nothing else but think about them," Zuko admitted, emulating the other man's calm demeanor. "Especially since I intend to marry her when she comes of age in two year's time."

That did it; the cracks finally shattered and Ming-Na went first pale, then red. "Are you insane?" he exploded, then caught himself as Zuko's glare turned steely. "Forgive me," he stuttered in apology. "But my lord, there is no precedent for such a marriage, many of your people will not accept a foreigner on the throne, especially…"

"Especially a foreign born Water Tribe peasant? One whose element is the opposite of mine?" Zuko continued for him, voice dripping with barely-restrained fury. "Any other aspersions you want to cast on the woman I love?"

Wisely, Ming-Na said nothing, merely bowed and waited for Zuko to order him from the room.

As the door closed behind the man, Zuko let out his breath in a whoosh and leaned against the back of his chair, eyes closed, fists clenched. _Not fair!_ His mind was fairly screaming at him to blast the man to ashes, but of course he couldn't do that. Not just because it was something his father would have done, but because it would set a poor precedent…and of course it was just plain wrong. Still, he entertained the fantasy of killing the man for his insolence, for his rudeness to Katara, then resolutely pushed such thoughts aside.

He hadn't really been insolent, and his rudeness wasn't born of anything other than concern for his Fire Lord.

With a sigh, Zuko pushed himself out of his chair and went to find the one person he could count on to help him figure out how to make the announcement he now knew he had to make.

Hopefully Iroh wouldn't be too hard to locate.

**oOo**

"Lord Iroh? Do you know what this meeting's about? It's not on my schedule," Katara said as she entered the small ante-chamber.

The Dragon of the West had been studying a painting on the wall opposite the window, but turned to face Katara as soon as she spoke. "Yes, my nephew has already spoken to me about it," he admitted. "And after a great deal of discussion, we have both decided this is the proper way to proceed."

"Why does that make me feel worse instead of better?" Katara asked, apprehension writ clear on her features. Without hearing any more, she had a feeling she knew where this was heading, and when the door opened behind her to admit her father and Zuko, she knew exactly what was going on. "That messenger, he said something to someone and now the secret's out," she guessed.

Zuko turned and deliberately shut the door behind him, then indicated the floor pillows lined up under the window. "Let's sit and talk before we go to see the Fire Sages," he said, following his own advice and taking the deep red one directly in the center. He held out his hand to Katara, who hesitated, then walked to him and sat next to him, allowing him the courtesy of helping where no help was needed. He kept a firm hold on her hand as Iroh and Hakoda joined them, the former looking serene, the latter apprehensive.

"What's this about?" Hakoda asked, although he appeared to have the same suspicions that in his daughter had already hardened into certainty.

Suspicions that were confirmed as soon as Zuko spoke. "I want to announce our betrothal. Today."

"I thought we were going to wait for my birthday," Katara protested, even as Hakoda sputtered: "Betrothal? You're betrothed?"

"Circumstances have changed," Zuko replied to Katara, before turning to look at Hakoda. "I asked Katara to marry me this morning, and she said yes. I was going to speak to you about it this afternoon, but like I said, circumstances have changed." He explained how the Protocol Minister had visited him earlier in the day, and what he and Iroh had decided to do about it. "That is," Zuko concluded, looking first at Katara and then at her father, "if you both agree."

"I do," Katara said instantly. All three then turned their attention to her father, who bore the stunned look of a gazelle-deer with a lantern shining in its eyes.

"This is all moving so quickly," he finally protested, knowing even as he spoke that what he wanted wasn't going to have much effect on this conversation. Or on his daughter's future; she loved him, but she'd lived too much of her life without needing his approval for anything. This was at best a formality, and even if he refused to give his blessing, she'd go ahead with what Zuko wanted because it was also what she wanted. It would pain her to disagree with her father, to defy him, but she would still do it.

"So the answer to ending the rumors and speculation is to confirm everything, to announce your betrothal, and to set a date for the wedding? A date one month after your eighteenth birthday?" he asked his daughter, just to confirm what his whirling mind was trying so hard to deny.

She nodded, her face as serious as he'd ever seen it, eyes shining with resolution. "Absolutely." She placed a hand on his forearm and gazed at him searchingly. "Will you give your blessing? Will you stand with us when Zuko makes the announcement, show your support?"

He covered her hand with his own and offered a sad smile. "Of course I will. No matter what the repercussions." Then he leaned forward, and kissed his daughter on the cheek. A good-bye kiss; her future was no longer just with the Water Tribes, it was sealed to that of the Fire Lord, for better or worse.

They rose as one and waited for Zuko to open the door into the main council chamber. He took a deep breath, glanced back at Katara with an encouraging smile, then threw them open and strode into the room, gesturing for the others to follow.


	12. Kiss and Tell

**Part Twelve: Kiss and Tell**

They entered the formal meeting hall of the Fire Sages. Katara's eyebrows rose as she took in the other people seated around the long, low table. Not only were the twelve Fire Sages present, but several of Zuko's highest ranking soldiers—admirals and generals and even the head of palace security. But what really raised her eyebrows was the presence of all the leaders of the various delegations, including the Earth King and the leader of the Northern Water Tribes.

"I thought you said it was just the Fire Sages," Katara said to Zuko out of the side of her mouth even as her eyes continued to study the assembled group before them.

"I thought it was a good idea to let everybody know at once," Zuko replied in a murmur. He reached for her hand and led her to the head of the table.

Murmurs of surprise and consternation arose from various throats as he did so, but Katara, head held high, ignored the noise and just walked with Zuko. He sat her in the seat usually reserved for his Uncle as Regent. Iroh, for his part, merely smiled serenely and stood to Zuko's left, while Hakoda uncomfortably took his cue from the older man and stood by Katara's side.

"As you have already been informed," Iroh announced once the muttering and uneasy movements of the Sages and dignitaries gathered before them stilled, "the Fire Lord has an important announcement to make." He bowed and stepped back, nodding at Zuko, who immediately rose from his seat.

"Many have questioned what kind of Fire Lord I'll be, both within my kingdom and from outside." He allowed his gaze to roam over every face before him, civilian, military, foreigner and fellow countrymen before continuing. "That very question has been one that I myself have pondered. The answer is: I don't know. No one can know, until I've completed my service to my nation, what kind of leader I'll have been. History will make that ultimate judgement. All I can say for now is that I pledge, as I always have, to do my best to make the world and the Fire Nation a better place, to do my best to forge a lasting peace."

Complete silence greeted him; he had their full attention, although as many eyes were on his and Katara's clasped hands as on his face. "One thing that must change is the question of trust. There is a great deal of mistrust between our peoples, rightfully so, especially in light of the last hundred years of warfare and my father's recent attempt at genocide."

Another murmur arose at his blunt proclamation; he'd stopped short of the admission during his coronation speech, a speech carefully composed by the Fire Sages to acknowledge the expected changes in Fire Nation policy and peace overtures without overtly admitting any kind of guilt or apologies for the former Fire Lord's policies, and those of his nation for longer than living memory.

"One of the things that has to change is the insularity all nations have developed in response to the constant warfare. We all identify ourselves by our lands, by the way our Bending abilities have sorted themselves out into the four elements." He turned to Katara and tugged gently on their clasped hands to indicate she should rise as well. "Although I never thought to make a political marriage, it seems fate had other things in mind for me when I fell in love with Katara, Master Water Bender of the Southern Water Tribe." He smiled tenderly at her, an expression she'd never thought him capable of when she first met him, and one that sent butterfly-moths fluttering in her stomach. "Today, I am formally announcing our betrothal," he continued, still looking directly at Katara, who smiled and returned his gaze with the tiniest of encouraging nods.

Utter silence greeted this announcement, and the two turned to face the staring faces of the gathered dignitaries. Slowly, deliberately, Zuko looked them over with the same cool detachment with which he'd begun his speech. With equal deliberation he turned back to Katara, leaned forward, and kissed her.

The Finance Minister was the first to break the stunned silence. "B-betrothed?" he stuttered in shock. "But my lord, she's a foreigner…" His voice trailed off as he belatedly remembered he was in a room filled with foreigners, but the denouncing of Zuko's words was immediately taken up by another.

"She's not just a foreigner, she's a _commoner_," one of the elderly Fire Sages snarled. He rose to his feet, literally shaking with rage as he pointed a finger at Katara. "Worse, she's a Water Bender, a Southern Water Tribe barbarian! This is an outrage, we will never sanction such a union!"

"Then maybe I'll just appoint a new body of Fire Sages who understand that what this nation needs, what this world needs, is not just a bunch of old fools clinging to the past like it's the only thing keeping them alive!" Zuko exploded, steam rising from his body as he finally lost his temper. "Don't you understand, all this insularity and insistence that we make everyone exactly like us is going to destroy us?"

He locked eyes with his elderly opponent until the man gave one last glare and stormed out of the room.

As the door slammed behind the man, pandemonium erupted. Everyone was shouting for Zuko's attention, and Katara forced herself not to flinch as several inimical glares were shot her way—and not all from Fire Nation faces. She stole a glance at Zuko's bodyguards, encouraged by the way one of them gave her quick wink and by the surreptitious "thumbs up" the other gave her. She resolved to try and talk to them in private some time, find out more about them than their names…she'd need all the allies she could get to weather this particular storm.

Through all the noise and chaos, Iroh and Hakoda remained silent and watchful, not bothering to try and offer their support vocally, knowing it was best to wait out the storm. Once everyone had vented their anger or disbelief or whatever other emotion Zuko's announcement had aroused, that would be soon enough to try and offer a voice of reason.

The only other person who remained silent and still in their seat was Suni, the Kyoshi Island leader. She wasn't quite a queen and wasn't quite a governor, but something in between that Katara still had trouble defining. But she had a lot of presence and a lot of clout, and it was to her face that Zuko's eyes continuously returned.

Finally, after the uproar started to settle, after the doors had slammed shut on four other Fire Sages and the small portion of the Earth Kingdom delegation that seemed unwilling to listen further, after everything settled down to mutterings and whispers, she spoke. "Well, Fire Lord Zuko, it seems you have an uncanny knack for upsetting the balance of power in the world. Well done. And congratulations to you and your bride-to-be."

Before Zuko could thank her, she added: "And where does your ally, the Avatar, stand on this issue? Will he be weighing in at some point?"

A shrewd question, and one Zuko had been hoping to avoid. "The Avatar is not in the palace at the moment, but I can assure you, Lady Suni, that his input will be solicited."

Katara couldn't help the twitch that went over her, and she was sure everyone else noticed it. Just like everyone else had to have noticed how Aang felt about her. Another layer of diplomacy added to what she wished could be a simple situation: A proposal made and accepted, a date set, a marriage anticipated. But she wasn't just a simple Water Nation girl marrying the boy from the next village, and she'd have to get used to this sort of thing if she were going to prove, to everyone else and herself, that she was indeed worthy of becoming the Fire Lady to Zuko's Fire Lord.

That thought straightened her spine and lifted her chin. She _knew_ she was worthy, Zuko and her father and Lord Iroh knew it, and soon everyone else would.

**Elsewhere**

"How did you know I was there?"

Mai had squirmed her way out of the hedge, cursing inwardly as she did so, but allowing none of her consternation and fear and, yes, annoyance to show either on her face or in her voice as she calmly brushed leaves and dirt from her clothing and hair and stood to face the Avatar.

Aang pointed his chin toward the cattle in the field behind her. "All the cow-bison in your field are crowding up to see Appa—except next to where you were hiding."

Mai glanced over her shoulder. Sure enough, there was a line of cow-bison next to the hedge—she'd been concentrating on the scene in front of her too intensely to notice how many of the animals had shown up. And even more obviously, there was a huge gap, just now being filled in, where she'd lain in hiding for so many uncomfortable, and ultimately unnecessary, hours.

"Plus Toph told me to listen carefully to the heartbeats around me," Aang added, immediately blowing his "All-Knowing-Avatar" image—and obviously not caring one bit. "Once I did that, yours stood out like a bonfire in the middle of a bunch of candles."

They regarded each other for a long moment before Mai took a single step toward the edge of the dirt road. "Why didn't she just point me out, then, if she knew I was there? Why just tell you, when they'd come all this way to make sure you didn't kill me?"

"Because Toph knows me better than that," Aang replied quietly. "She knows that no matter how much I hate you right now for what you did to Katara, for stabbing her and just leaving her there to die, I could never do the same thing to you."

That much was true; the Avatar might be as capable of losing his temper as the next person, but he'd reined himself in during a fight to the death with Lord Ozai, when the fate of the world was at stake. Holding himself back while fighting her, if it came to that, would be a piece of cake in comparison. Not that he going to forgive her for that action, Mai could tell. He was standing in a relaxed pose, his voice steady and uninflected, but his eyes gave him away, told her how angry he was. Angry, and perhaps, disappointed, although she supposed she could be imagining that much. All she could tell for sure was that he was so angry she was surprised steam wasn't pouring off him, that the dirt road wasn't rumbling beneath her feet or the clouds overhead drenching her in a sudden squall. "You still haven't said why you didn't just let them take me back to face my punishment."

"Because I might be able to keep myself from really hurting you, but I can't vouch for Sokka. He hates you even more than I do right now." And that was quite a bit, measured tones and deliberately calm façade or not; Mai knew all about the difference between what the heart felt and what the face showed, and Aang was nowhere near as good at hiding his emotions as she was. " One of you would do something stupid if Toph didn't get a chance to Earth Bend you into submission first," he continued, "and then someone else would just end up getting hurt. There's been enough violence lately, don't you think?"

"If it means anything, I didn't plan it," Mai found herself admitting. "I didn't even know I was going to do it until I pulled the knife out of her side."

Her voice was as flat and emotionless as his, but she knew her own eyes would never give her emotions away, that to Aang she must look as bored and cold-hearted as she always seemed. She watched as his fingers twitched, and a small curl of steam escaped from between them before he visibly took hold of himself and mimicked her earlier movement, taking a single step forward so he, too, stood at the edge of the narrow lane separating them. "They weren't even together, but now they are." She flinched at that statement, even though it was what she expected to hear. "By trying to kill them, you pushed them into each other's arms," Aang added, sounding bitter and angry and no longer trying to match her passivity. "And even if you didn't plan on killing Katara, you _did_ plan to kill Zuko, using those poisoned cosmetics Iroh told me about. Didn't you."

She bowed her head, not bothering to deny it, or to try and explain how it had felt as if someone else had taken over her body, that she merely watched, as if viewing a stage play, from a distance. "That's why I can't let you take me back," she said in a low voice, once again meeting Aang's eyes. "I'll be put to death for my crimes. I'd rather go out fighting than face the humiliation of public execution."

She meant it, every word. Aang could hear the ring of truth in her words. She would fight him tooth and nail to avoid being brought to the punishment she believed herself to be facing. "Mai, the world's a different place now, and Zuko's not his father-"

She cut him off with a bark of disbelieving laughter. When she spoke, for the first time in a long time, Mai allowed her true emotions to show in face and voice. She looked and sounded tired, defeated. Lost. "Aang, I didn't just try to kill my boyfriend and his new girlfriend; I tried to _assassinate_ the _Fire Lord_." She gave him a moment for her words to sink in. "I'll be tried for treason, and no matter how different a man Zuko is from his father, that's still a crime punishable by death. Face it; my life is over no matter what."

"I'll speak on your behalf." Aang looked as if he regretted the words the instant they left his mouth, but then his expression hardened into resolve, and he nodded as she stared at him incredulously. "I will. I'm the Avatar, and the world _is_ different now. I'll plead your case and request permanent exile as an alternative to capital punishment." He held out his hand. "Just come back with me now. Please."

_"All life is valuable. And I guess I kind of understand why she did what she did. I don't agree with it, I don't like it, but I kind of understand it."_ Mai considered his earlier words to his friends, words spoken before he knew of her presence. He meant what he was saying, every word; he'd be able to put aside his own feelings in order to plead her cause. And she was grateful for that, she truly was.

But not grateful enough to allow herself to be dragged back to the Fire Lord's dungeons. Because she knew, no matter how much influence the Avatar wielded, ultimately Zuko would have her put to death. Because a traitor of her magnitude couldn't be allowed to roam free in the world, to act as a possible rallying point for others who had their own agendas against the new Fire Lord. He had to show a strong face now, or deal with the consequences.

She took a step backward, away from the road, her hands dropping to her sides as she deliberately shook her head "no."

Aang lowered his own hand, defeat and disappointment warring for dominance on his face. "Please," he tried, one more time, but she shook her head again, and he nodded in reply. "All right, then, I guess we do this the hard way." He took up a Bending stance, but Mai was ready for the sudden upheaval in the ground beneath her feet and sprang lightly aside, throwing one of her deadly needles at him at the same time.

The fight had begun, and the Spirits alone knew how it was going to end.


	13. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

**Part Thirteen: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang**

The first assassination attempt came only hours after the formal announcement of their betrothal.

Katara was walking down the main corridor leading from her rooms to the marble staircase at the end of the hall when the blast of fire narrowly missed her. Because she was always prepared, and because Iroh had warned her that such things might happen, Katara had her water skin on hand and easily overpowered the Fire Bender, while shouting for help from anyone within earshot.

He was a soldier, one who had apparently decided that enough was enough. Raving about Ozai and how Zuko was going to destroy the Fire Nation with his overly liberal policies and his bastardization of the royal family's bloodline, he was hauled off in chains by the two members of Zuko's personal guard who had shown their support for her in the council chamber.

After they were alone in her room, Katara finally allowed herself to collapse into Zuko's arms in semi-hysterics.

When the crying fit and shaking had ended, she rested her forehead against his shoulder for a long, comforting moment, cherishing the feel of his arms around her before trusting herself enough to speak. "This is going to happen again, isn't it. Just like your uncle warned us."

Her voice was muffled against the fabric of his tunic, but Zuko heard her clearly enough. He leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on the crown of her head. "Yeah," he said hoarsely. "I guess it is. I was just hoping it wouldn't happen so soon."

She looked up, startled to find him knuckling a tear away from the corner of one eye, although his mouth was set in the grim, uncompromising line she'd expected to see. "Zuko, I'm causing problems for you. I'm sorry."

He kissed her again, this time on the lips and with no hint of gentleness about it as he crushed her to him, both hands clutching her shoulders even as she slipped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss in full measure. "I love you," he said roughly, when the kiss ended. He pulled her back just enough for their eyes to meet, for her to see the resolve and determination in his expression. "You're not causing problems; it's my people's stubbornness and insularity that's causing it. It's time for the Fire Nation to change, and by the Spirits, I'll _make_ them change, no matter how long it takes." His expression softened as he smiled at her. "After all, if I can do it, anyone can, right?"

She nodded wordlessly, her earlier, cowardly thoughts immediately banished. No, she would _not_ try to break off the betrothal; she would _not_ back down, not with Zuko standing by her side. He was right; it was time for the Fire Nation to change, to become part of the larger world and not simply try to force their own ways on everyone else. And if she and Zuko were part of the change, were _instruments_ of that change, then she would not shirk her duties.

"We can do this," Zuko said, and she nodded again, turning her lips up for another sweet kiss.

The second assassination attempt came moments later. Although it would be days before anyone could piece together the exact sequence of events, the only thing Katara knew in that instant was that the world seemed to explode, throwing her from Zuko's arms and tumbling her into darkness.

**The Earth Kingdom**

"Aang should be here by now, shouldn't he?"

Suki looked up at Sokka's uneasy words. Her boyfriend was standing by the door to their shared sleeping chamber, shifting from foot to foot and peering anxiously down the hall every few seconds. "He said he'd come. He doesn't lie, you should know that by now. Give him time, it's early yet." She returned to carefully sharpening the edges of her battle fan, but paused once again to add: "Besides, Toph isn't even awake yet. Why don't you try and drag her out of bed and get us something to eat?"

If the prospect of needling Toph didn't distract him, surely the idea of food would—and it was likely he'd find the combination of two of his favorite pastimes irresistible. She watched from the corner of her eye as he dithered in the doorway, and smiled to herself as he finally walked into the hall and raised a fist to bang noisily on the Earth Bender's door. "Hey, Toph, wake up!" he yelled through the sturdy wooden aperture. "Soup's on! Last one to the dining room is a rotten turtle-duck egg!"

Toph hadn't even made a snarky comment when she realized Suki and Sokka intended to sleep together openly this time, but the Kyoshi Island warrior knew she wouldn't hesitate to harass Sokka about it any chance she could get—starting now. Though muffled by distance and the thickness of the door between them, Suki clearly heard the younger girl's response: "Go back to bed, Sokka, it's too damned early—what's a' matter, Suki not enough woman for you?"

Suki stifled a giggle and returned her attention to her fan. She'd allowed it to get shockingly out of fighting fit since the official end of the war. Toph's tongue, however, remained as sharp as ever. She heard Sokka start to retort, then retreat in confusion, clomping noisily down the stairs to the dining room. Good thing there weren't any other guests in the traveler's hostel today, or there'd be a slew of complaints raised against them.

When Sokka returned about fifteen minutes later, she was carefully folding the fan back up and sliding it into its carrying case. She'd oiled the leather the night before, making sure to keep it as supple and comfortable to wear as possible; the stupid thing tended to chafe and so she'd never let up on its cleaning and repair. She put it aside and rose to her feet as Sokka kicked the door shut behind him, juggling several large bowls in his arms. The room boasted a table with two chairs, and she joined him as he deposited the bowls onto the table without spilling more than a drop or two.

"Shouldn't we wait for Toph?" Suki couldn't resist asking as she sniffed appreciatively at the various dishes.

Sokka glowered at her before deliberately pulling out his chopsticks and stabbing them into the nearest bowl—some kind of dried fruits mixed with roasted grains, by the looks of it. "She can get her own breakfast," he mumbled around his first mouthful, then put his head down and refused to be baited further.

**oOo**

After breakfast was over, after Toph had finally rolled out of bed and unconcernedly eaten by herself in the dining room, Suki finally agreed that it was well past their agreed meeting time. "Aang's seriously late," she said by way of opening up the subject when they were all gathered in the small common room reserved for guests of the inn. "What are the odds he changed his mind and flew off to continue chasing after Mai on his own?"

"Better than the odds that he fell asleep and forgot about us," Toph piped up from her cross-legged position on the rough stone floor near the oversized fireplace. She was idly tracing patterns into the flagstones with one finger, then smoothing them back out again by brushing her hand across the surface.

Sokka glanced sidelong at Suki, an "I-told-you-so" frown puckering the skin between his eyebrows. Thankfully for his own health, he kept it non-verbal. "Either way, we have to go back and see if we can pick up his trail, maybe talk to the farmer or his family, see if anyone saw which way he went when he left."

Toph hauled herself to her feet. "We'd better get going, then. We've lost enough time lounging around here as it is." She ostentatiously ignored the incredulous look Sokka shot her way, deliberately turning her shoulder toward him as if she could _feel_ his gaze burning into her and smirking in as provocative a manner as Suki had ever seen her do.

Suki suppressed a silent sigh. Some things never changed. At least Toph's initial crush on Sokka had evolved into this more sisterly dynamic. "I'll get the wagon ready," was all she said as she, too, rose to her feet. "Sokka, you get our stuff together. Oh, and Toph?" she called out sweetly as the other girl reached the doorway. She paused and turned, cocking her head inquiringly. "Take care of the bill, will you?"

**oOo**

All thought of joking and one-upmanship vanished as they reached the place where they'd last seen Aang. It was obvious some kind of battle had taken place; the signs of geologic upheaval in the ground and road would have told them that, let alone the scorch marks on the hedges…and the blood. Spirits, there was so much blood on the ground…

Suki and Sokka sat there, staring, until finally Toph demanded impatiently, "What's going on? What is it? I know we're here…" Her voice trailed off as she jumped onto the ground and simply stood there, absorbing what knowledge she could glean from her connection with the earth. She inhaled deeply, and they heard her gasp a little as she realized what exactly she was smelling. "A battle," she said flatly. "Earth Bending, a scent of ozone like after a thunderstorm, and a lot of blood. Someone must have attacked Aang."

Neither Suki nor Sokka disputed her words; the evidence before their eyes was overwhelming. The question wasn't who had done it; it was, where was the Avatar now?

There was no sign of life other than the omnipresent cow-bison scattered throughout the fields on either side of the road. However, even they were far away from the hedges that fenced them in, apparently still too spooked to approach any closer than they already were.

The sound of pounding feet caught their attention; as one, all three turned to face the way they'd just come. A line of Earth Kingdom soldiers appeared at a swift trot, no doubt called here by the farmers who'd either witnessed the battle or come across the aftermath. Suki recalled there was a small garrison not half a mile from the town in which they'd spent the night; from the looks of it, the entire complement had been called out in response to whatever had happened here.

The leader dismounted and approached them, his face grim. He hesitated before addressing himself to Sokka. "What happened here?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Toph snapped back at him. Suki wondered how much of her gruff response was due to her worries about Aang, and how much to the fact that the soldier had addressed the one obvious non-Earth Kingdom member of their party, probably because he was the only male present. "Has anyone seen the Avatar?"

"The Avatar?" The soldier took a slight step backwards in surprise. "He was here? We were just told there was some kind of disturbance during the night, the sounds of possible battle." His lips quirked downward in irritation. "The Ling family sent their eldest son to inform us of it only an hour ago or we would have been here sooner." He stopped, as if suddenly remembering who was supposed to be questioning whom here. "And you are?"

"The Avatar's friends," Toph replied tersely. She pulled herself up to her full height, which was still not as tall as Sokka's chin. "My name is Toph Be Fong. And you are?"

Responding automatically to her autocratic tone as much as to her actual name, the man replied: "Captain Li." He offered a stiff bow. "My apologies, Lady Be Fong. We were unaware you were traveling this way."

It seemed absurd, the stilted exchange of formalities, but if it would keep them from being detained too much longer, Suki was willing to put up with it. "Captain Li, we need to find the Avatar. He was hunting a fugitive from the Fire Nation…"

Li nodded. "The Lady Mai Lah Bin, the woman who attempted to assassinate the new Fire Lord. We've heard of her crimes, and descriptions have been circulated, but I can assure you, no one's seen any sign of her here."

Toph swept out one arm, taking in the bloody stains in the dirt, the jagged upheaval that had once been smooth ground, the burnt sections of the hedges. "If this isn't a sign, then I don't know what is," she said sarcastically.

He frowned but didn't answer her; she was right, after all. "Anyway," Sokka said loudly, "if you guys didn't even know Aang was here, then I'm betting you didn't see him fly off anywhere, either." He glanced over at the half-dozen or so soldiers standing behind the captain; as one, they shook their heads. "Look, Captain, before you go getting all officious again, we stayed at the Flagstone Inn last night; the landlady should be able to vouch that we weren't getting up to any trouble out here in the countryside last night. And since we have an Earth Bending Master with us, we can even take care of cleaning up the road. Right, Toph?"

She answered without speaking, merely spreading her hands out in front of her. The small portion of road on which she was standing instantly smoothed itself out.

The Captain straightened stiffly. "We can take care of road repairs ourselves, thank you," he said in a clipped voice. "We'll report the matter to the proper authorities, who no doubt will wish to send out their own investigators."

"And we'll try to find anyone who might have seen which way Aang went when he left," Toph put in, once again speaking as autocratically as any noblewoman Suki had ever heard. "Thank you for your assistance, Captain Li."

At least the man had the graciousness to nod after so obvious a dismissal. "Please send word back to us if you discover anything, my lady."

Toph nodded regally, then jumped back into the cart. "Come one, guys, time's wasting!" she shouted, shattering her dignified image with what appeared to be grim satisfaction.

**Elsewhere**

_Darkness, pain, a sense of movement…what had happened? So weak, so tired…fight the blackness, see where you are, don't give in…warmth underneath _(fur? was that enticing softness fur?)_, the sough of cool air above, and always that sense of movement, smooth, not the jolting gait of any earthbound steed, no, smoother even than sailing…Flying? Yes, flying…it must be…and then the pain, and the darkness, and a return to unconsciousness._


	14. Blowing Kisses In The Wind

**Part Fourteen: Blowing Kisses in the Wind**

"Why did you bother saving me?"

Aang ignored the question as he bent over Mai's recumbent form. "Good. You're awake. I was worried, you lost a lot of blood back there."

They were holed up in some farmer's deserted shack in the middle of nowhere; Mai had gleaned that much the last time she found herself able to stay awake for more than a minute at a time.

If she'd been able to laugh, she would have, stoicism or not, just because Aang actually looked like he meant it when he said he'd been worried about her. "You shouldn't have bothered," she said, her voice still weak and shaky after who-knew how many days spent in slow recovery from the wounds he'd inflicted on her during their battle. "Just let me bleed to death, it would have been kinder."

"Don't say that!" Aang cut her off sharply. "All life is sacred, and everyone deserves a second chance."

She'd raised her head to try and meet his eyes; now she dropped it back to the folded blanket and turned wearily to one side. "Not everyone," she whispered, closing her eyes and falling back into sleep with a troubled frown.

Aang regarded her with a frown of his own. Why _had_ he saved her, brought her here instead of to a doctor or back to the Fire Nation?

The answer to the first question was easy, the other, not so much. What he said was true, one of his core beliefs: All life was sacred, and everyone deserved a second chance. _Everyone_. No one had the right to just pick and choose, well, except rulers and magistrates and others who sought to uphold the law.

At any rate, he felt, personally, that passing judgement, determining who lived and who died, was not up to him. And that was why he was here in the middle of nowhere with a wounded fugitive on his hands; he knew very well what would happen if and when he brought Mai back to the capital.

He hadn't realized how hard it would be to make the decision to bring her back to face her punishment. He should have; after all, he'd managed to not kill Ozai, as everyone kept pointing out. Why should he be any less scrupulous where Mai was concerned? At least she'd had some reason, however poor, for doing what she'd done. A broken heart, he admitted sadly, could really do a number on your sense of perspective.

Still, it wasn't until he'd managed to vanquish her in battle that he even considered not returning her to face Zuko and Katara. The fight had burned a lot of his excess hurt and anger out of him, leaving him strangely calm, almost at peace with emotions that had threatened to overwhelm him until then.

He'd gone after Mai out of a sense of betrayal from two people who were close to him, burning to avenge the hurt done to them—well, mostly Katara—and so heart-sore he could barely think straight. And now?

"Now I can think straight again," he said aloud as he pulled the blanket over Mai's shoulder. He'd cleaned her wounds, wrapped them, and stolen food and water-leaving a fair payment behind, of course, but he'd still stolen the stuff and would have to go back and apologize to the farmers from whom he'd done the stealing at some point… "Off track, Aang, off track," he muttered to himself.

That "some point" was far off in the future, after he'd finally made up his mind about how to handle The Mai Situation.

The frown deepening, he wandered outside to find a quiet place to think.

**The Fire Nation Palace**

"How is she?"

Zuko practically pounced on the Healer as she exited Katara's room in the medical wing of the palace.

"No change, Fire Lord," was the respectful reply, and Zuko went back to his fretful pacing.

No change. Katara had been unconscious since he'd carried her out of her room, staggering in pain, half-blinded by blood streaming down his face, deafened by the blast, terrified she was dead.

She wasn't, thank Agni, but they'd both been badly burned and Zuko's arm had been broken in three places. Only the presence of a Northern Water Tribe Healer had healed the breaks and kept those burns from permanently scarring either of them, but apparently some sort of damage had occurred to Katara's mind, damage that the Oasis water couldn't do anything about, or so he'd been told. Damage that kept her sleeping like a maid in a tale for two days now. A Mind Healer had been sent for, one of the elite few who practiced their arcane abilities in remote temples on the fringes of the habitable lands to the north, but wasn't expected for another day.

Another day of fretting and pacing and cursing the stubborn, pig-headed, ignorant prejudices of so many of members of his arrogant, Spirits' forsaken rabble of a nation.

A hand fell on his shoulder and whirled with a snarl on his lips that quickly vanished as he saw the concerned features of his uncle. "How is she?" Iroh asked.

"No change." Zuko's shoulders slumped and he dropped his own hand over his uncle's, offering a brief squeeze of acknowledgement for the older man's concern. "Her father's with her now."

"You must not blame yourself, Nephew."

Zuko was unsurprised by his uncle's words; it had to be obvious to even a casual observer how the Fire Lord felt right now, let alone to his closest relative. "I don't, Uncle. Not really. I blame my father and the rest of our ancestors for turning us into a nation filled with so much arrogance and prejudice that some people feel compelled to kill someone just because they break with tradition." The bitterness in his voice rose as he continued: "I blame the coward who planted a bomb in Katara's bedchambers, and the idiot who tried to kill her before this, and anyone else who plans to try again when they learn this attempt failed."

"And you blame yourself for not keeping her safe," Iroh pointed out gently.

Zuko ran a hand over his face. "Yeah. That too," he agreed in a listless voice, all emotion suddenly drained from him. It had been an exhausting few days, to say the least, and Iroh studied him with concern.

"You should try and get some rest," he advised after a moment. "I promise, I'll tell you immediately if there are any changes."

Which, of course, there wouldn't be. Not until the mind healer arrived and…and…and did whatever it was mind healers did when people had been so injured they retreated into their own heads and refused to come back out.

Which was so unlike Katara that it frightened him even more than he was willing to admit to himself. She was strong, she was fearless, why wasn't she waking up to fight back against the harm that had been done to her?

Almost, he voiced those fears and doubts to his uncle, then changed his mind. He was the Fire Lord; he couldn't appear weak, not even to those he loved and trusted. So with a nod of appreciation, he took Iroh's advice and retreated to his private chambers, where a lamp burned in anticipation of his return. It was well after midnight, but he knew, even as he stripped off his formal robes and threw on his night-clothes, that he would get no sleep this night, nor any night until Katara had been returned to him.

**oOo**

"Okay, something's wrong; I can smell it."

Sokka gave Toph an odd look, which of course she couldn't see and so blithely ignored. "What are you talking about?" he demanded, scanning the shoreline as their ship neared the Fire Nation dock. "Everything looks—and smells—fine to me!" He wrinkled his nose. "Well, maybe a bit fishy, but hey, I grew up in the South Pole, so fish I'm used to smelling."

They had given up on their search for Mai and Aang only with great reluctance, when it became apparent that the Avatar was deliberately hiding from them. No one had seen Appa, and without a direction to search in, it was increasingly apparent that they had run out of options.

"No, she's right," Suki contradicted him, her quiet voice breaking into Sokka's thoughts. She, too, was scanning the oncoming shoreline, and her face was as serious as her tone of voice. "Something's…off. I just can't put my finger on it."

Sokka opened his mouth to continue the argument, but then he, too caught wind of what the others had already seen; the grim expressions on the faces of people as the ship drew nearer to its slip, the increased number of guards in view, and the dark head cloths many of the women were sporting. "Did someone…die?" he asked, his throat closing in sudden fear.

"No." The voice came from behind them; one of the other passengers who had also been uneasily scanning the wharf and the city behind it. "The flags would all be covered as well. But someone's been injured, someone important. The dark head scarves the women are wearing are to show that their thoughts are with..whoever it is that's been injured."

"Could it be Zuko?" Suki wondered, but again the stranger shook his head, tugging thoughtfully at his beard as he answered her.

"If it was the Fire Lord the flags would be burning and the men would have their heads covered as well. No, not the Fire Lord, but unless I miss my guess, someone close to him. Maybe that new fiancé of his. She's Water Tribe, I hear, but…"

That was enough for Sokka. With a grim look on his face, he dove over the side of the ship, which was still maneuvering into position next to the dock. Suki shouted in alarm, but Toph grabbed the back of her tunic when she would have followed Sokka. "Hold on, Fan Girl, Sokka can swim like a fish. We'll be better off just waiting for the ship to dock and heading up to the palace on our own."

Suki subsided with a disgruntled sigh. "Fine," she grumbled. "We'll wait."

"Look, I know you're just as worried about Katara as Sokka," Toph said, releasing her friend's tunic but leaving her hand on the older girl's shoulder in a gesture of sympathy. "We all are. But so far it's just a rumor."

"No, just an educated guess," the stranger said comfortably, not appearing at all disturbed by Toph's implied insult. "I'm a scholar by trade, lived in the capital my entire life, so I'm pretty sure that's what's going on now." He offered Suki a sympathetic smile. "I can tell you must know the girl personally."

"Yeah, that was her brother who just jumped into the water," Toph replied.

Neither she nor Suki saw the startled glance the stranger gave them, and he receded from their minds as the ship finally docked.

By the time Suki and Toph both thought to question him about his statement that Katara was Zuko's fiancé, he'd already vanished into the crowds of people making ready to disembark.

**The Palace**

"Where is she? Is she all right? What happened?"

Iroh stepped forward and placed his hands on Sokka's shoulders. The boy was soaking wet, wild-eyed; he must have just heard about his sister and…and what? Swam here to be by her side?

Shaking his head at the impetuosity of youth, Iroh explained what had happened. "Your sister is recovered physically, but a Mind Healer has been sent for, and should arrive tomorrow to examine your sister. Of course," he offered by way of consolation, "she could simply recover on her own; it has been known to happen, and your sister is very strong."

Sokka had remained quite still while Iroh spoke, his eyes never leaving the older man's face, but as soon as Zuko's uncle removed his hands from Sokka's shoulders, he was in motion, heading at a dead run for the medical wing. Iroh had intercepted him in the hallway on his way to his rooms for a quick nap. "Your father and Zuko are with her now," he called after the Water Tribesman's rapidly retreating back, then shrugged wearily and continued his interrupted walk to his own rooms.

He just hoped Sokka wasn't in a mood to take out his worries on the Fire Lord; but then, Zuko could take care of himself and would be sure not to do any permanent damage to his betrothed's brother.

At least, Iroh hoped not, considering Zuko's own state of mind at the moment. Eh, nothing he could do about it; neither one would be swayed by wise counsel, and besides, Hakoda was there to talk sense into his son if necessary.

Ah, it had been such a long night, after an impossibly long couple of days, and all he wanted to do was sleep, as he'd advised his nephew to do the night before…or had it been early this morning? He had no idea. His shoulders cracked as he stretched, and he winced at the sharp pain that passed over his neck at the movement. _I'm getting old,_ he thought to himself. _Too old to deal with this sort of thing anymore._

But deal with it he would, for as long as his nephew needed him.

After a nap.

**oOo**

"Iroh told me what happened," Sokka snapped as soon as he saw Zuko standing outside the door to Katara's sick room. He was glad the Fire Lord wasn't by his sister's side at the moment; what he had to say to Zuko shouldn't be what Katara woke up to. If, that is, she could even be roused by angry words…He brushed his worries aside, fiercely glad to have someone to take things out on right in front of him. "What were you thinking, asking her to marry you? You knew something like this would happen!"

"We both did," Zuko replied, doing his best to hold onto his temper. This was just what he didn't need right now, Sokka in his face about not keeping Katara safe, when Zuko was berating himself for exactly the same thing. "For the record, neither one of us planned for things to happen this way, but the issue was forced on us by unplanned circumstances." He kept his voice conciliatory as he explained. "We planned to wait until Katara turned eighteen before announcing-"

Sokka cut him off with a harsh laugh. "You were planning to wait three years? But you still planned to marry my sister, even knowing how your crazy people would take it?"

Zuko took a step forward, his anger rising in spite of his attempts to keep it under control. "My 'crazy people' aren't the ones doing this," he snarled. "Just some remnants of my father's followers. When I find out who did it, I'll take care of him just like I did the other one."

Oops. That had been a mistake; apparently Iroh hadn't told Sokka about the first attempt on his sister's life. "The other one?" he asked, incredulity in voice and eyes. His hands balled into fists as he glared at Zuko. "You mean someone tried to kill my sister twice since I've been gone? Way to go, Zuko, good job keeping her safe."

Zuko's own hands clenched into fists, and steam was rising from them as well. "Sokka, knock it off. Why are you back, anyway? You were supposed to be tracking down Aang and Mai. Was it too much work for you, you just gave up and came home the first chance you had?"

"That is enough!"

Both young men started and turned to see Hakoda standing in the doorway to Katara's room, glowering at them. "Katara would be ashamed to see you two snarling over her misfortune like a pair of feral dogs over a bone!"

His voice was low, but it held them frozen with shame. Sokka was the first one to lower his eyes. "I'm sorry, Dad," he said in a choked voice. "But it's just…we had to find out from some stranger on a ship that Katara was engaged to this bozo, and that she was hurt somehow."

Zuko bristled at Sokka's insult, but let it pass at the steady look his future father-in-law gave him. Slowly he unclenched his fists. "I'm sorry, too. You're right; she wouldn't want us to fight like this. Especially," he added, deliberately turning his gaze on Sokka, "since we're practically family, and not just because she and I are getting married. After all we've been through together, you'd think we'd know better than to just fall back into old habits."

With those words, he held out his hand. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, Sokka. I'm worried about her, too."

After a long moment, Sokka took Zuko's hand in his and shook it firmly. "Yeah, I'm sorry, too," he mumbled. Then he turned back to his father. "How's she doing?"

"The same," Hakoda replied, allowing some of his own concern to show on his face as he closed the door behind him. "The Chief Healer is with her now, along with Lian Xi." That was the Northern Water Tribe Healer who'd elected to remain at the Fire Lord's palace after the rest of her group had returned home.

"Can I see her?" Hakoda nodded and stepped aside, allowing his son to pass. He and Zuko waited in silence until a subdued Sokka reappeared several minutes later.

"It's like she's just…sleeping," he said, rubbing a hand across the top of his head in a nervous gesture. "I tried talking to her, the Healers both said that might help, but she just kept on sleeping. Like a princess in some children's story."

"Yeah," Zuko agreed. "Just like that." Then he entered the room, leaving father and son in privacy while he sat with Katara. The Healers murmured encouraging words, but the looks they exchanged across his head spoke volumes; they had no idea of Katara would ever recover, Mind Healer or not.

Then they left the room, closing the door quietly behind them, leaving Zuko alone with Katara.

He hitched his chair closer to her bedside, taking her limp hand in his and stroking it with the fingers of his other hand. "Hey," he said softly, watching for the merest hint of a flutter in her eyelids. The Healers had told him the same thing they'd told Sokka; sometimes talking to someone in such deep unconsciousness could help. They didn't know why; even the Mind Healers couldn't explain why it helped, they just knew it did. "Katara, I'm so sorry," he continued, then managed a slight grin. "I know, I'm repeating myself. But it's true, and it's the only thing I can think of to say. Except," he added, leaning forward to lay a gentle kiss on her lips, "that I love you. You need to wake up so we can get back to planning our wedding."

No response, no movement save the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

Leaning his head onto his hands, Zuko gave into his despair and allowed the tears to fall unchecked.


	15. A Kiss Before Dying

**Warning: Character death (as the title indicates)**

* * *

**Part Fifteen: A Kiss Before Dying**

"I still can't believe you went and got yourself betrothed to Prince Hothead."

It was later that evening, and Sokka was sitting on the bed next to his sister's unconscious form, legs crossed, one hand holding hers, the other restlessly fooling with the soft blue coverlet that their father had brought for her. "I mean, I guess I can understand you having some kind of crush on him, but to actually fall in love with him?" He shook his head sadly. "No way, sis. I always thought you had better sense than that." He sighed. "Well, at least now I know the real reason that bitch stabbed you."

Suki and Hakoda had filled him in on the truth after his confrontation with Zuko, and it had taken him a while to cool down when he realized everyone seemed to know about his sister's relationship with the Fire Lord except him. When he angrily demanded the reason she kept it from him, Suki replied simply: "Because we knew you'd react exactly like this. Katara wanted to sort of…ease you into things. They weren't expecting anything major to happen for a couple of months, after she turned sixteen. She was planning on telling you well before then, I know she was."

"Yeah, well, maybe if she already had I could've talked her out of this crazy idea," he'd shot back, but Suki had merely shaken her head and pointedly asked him when, exactly, he'd ever been able to talk his sister out of anything?

Unable to respond to that question with more than a mumbled "Never" that he hoped Suki hadn't heard—and which, of course, she had—he'd stomped off to be by himself for a while. When he came back to the hospital wing, Toph was sitting on the bed, swinging her legs and filling in Katara with all the details of their unsuccessful attempts to find Mai and Aang.

As he pushed the door open further, he realized the two girls weren't alone; Zuko was leaning against the wall opposite the window, listening intently to Toph's report.

"Come on in, Sokka," Toph said as he hesitated in the doorway. "I was just getting to the good part." Then she launched herself back into the narrative, describing the confrontation with the soldiers and their subsequent search for further evidence of either Mai or Aang—and finding nothing that could lead them in any particular direction, how they'd decided to cut their losses and return home. "But don't you worry, Sugar Queen," she finished, patting Katara's hand solicitously. "We'll get them both back here safe and sound, so that bitch can face what she has coming to her."

"That goes double for me," Sokka said, walking over to the bedside and ignoring Zuko as best he could.

The Fire Lord hadn't spoken a word, and he left the room in silence. Toph hopped off the bed and trailed after him, giving Sokka's hand a sympathetic squeeze as she did so. "I figured you'd show up here when Sparky was here. Your Dad told me you two already had a fight, so I guessed it would be good if someone else was in the room when you finally showed up."

"I don't need a babysitter," Sokka muttered. "And it wasn't really a fight. We just…had words."

"Right. Words." Toph sounded her most sardonic. "Words that would've ended up with someone getting punched and someone else getting his butt kicked." Just by her tone he knew which one was the one she thought would end up with the butt-kicking, and felt his face flush with a combination of anger and embarrassment. Because, he knew, she was right. He was just too angry to be any good in even something as small as a fist-fight with the Fire Lord.

"Thanks for sitting with her," was all he said, then Toph was gone and he was alone with his sister. His turn to monologue to her unconscious form.

And so he'd done for almost an hour. His throat was dry from all the talking he'd done. When he'd finished his own version of their chase after Mai and Aang, he'd found himself at a loss for words until his anger at her betrothal to Zuko had risen and he'd started in on a rant he half-hoped might rouse her to wakefulness just so she could argue with him.

He'd gladly listen to every argument she could muster just for the chance to hear her voice again. The stupid Mind Healer couldn't get there fast enough. If he knew where they were, he'd have urged Aang to take Appa and go after her, but she was already en route and who knew where the airship carrying her was by now? Not close enough, that was all he knew.

Shortly after he'd subsided into a gloomy silence, the door opened, revealing Suki with a tall glass of water in one hand and a plate of food in the other. He salivated at the delicious aroma that arose from the plate and took her offerings eagerly. He greedily slurped down half of the water, then attacked the plate of food, not stopping until it was all gone. He hadn't realized how long it had been since he'd eaten.

Suki remained silent while he ate, taking the chair by the head of the bed and simply watching Katara as she slept on, as oblivious to the extra person in the room as she'd been to Sokka.

When he'd finished his meal, he carefully placed the plate and glass on the small bedside table, then uncrossed his legs and slid from the bed, wincing slightly as his muscles protested the sudden change in alignment. Without a word he pulled Suki to her feet and took her in a tight embrace. She held him in her arms just as tightly, running a gentle hand up and down his back in a soothing motion as he allowed the tears he'd been repressing to finally fall.

"What if she never wakes up?" he sobbed.

Suki had no answer, simply continued the soothing motions until he'd cried himself out. Then she took his hand and led him from Katara's sick room to her own bedchamber, and from there to her bed. Words wouldn't help him, not right now, and even the physical activity she initiated she knew to only be a temporary balm for his troubled soul.

Still, it was the only thing she could offer him by way of comfort, and as he eagerly responded to her kisses and caresses, she knew it was exactly what he needed to take his mind away from his sister's situation, however temporarily.

In the morning, the Mind Healer would arrive, and if she could at least give Sokka a way to keep his mind occupied until then, it was the least she could do.

**oOo**

Katara was still sleeping. Of course she was, Zuko thought bitterly as he closed the door behind him. Sleeping and alone, at least for the moment. The guards outside her door didn't count; he barely acknowledged their presence each time he entered or left this quiet room, the only light a soft glow from the lantern by on the table under the window and the glitter of stars.

There was no moon tonight, and he cursed the night silently as he made his way to her side. Maybe if the moon was full she'd be better able to fight off this invisible malady. There were too many days and nights between new moon and full to offer much hope; if she didn't wake up before then, it would be far too late. They were barely able to get water down her throat, let alone any kind of food.

Angrily he turned his thoughts away from the possibility of a future without Katara in it. The Mind Healer would be here in a few hours and Katara would wake up.

Any other outcome was unthinkable. He leaned down and kissed her, pressing his lips firmly against hers. They yielded beneath his touch, but remained passive, slightly dry. "Katara," he whispered as he broke that desperate kiss, stroking her hair and straining to see any sign that she heard him. "Katara," he repeated in a slightly louder voice. "You have to wake up. Uncle Iroh found the assassin; it was another soldier loyal to Ozai. He snuck into the palace but couldn't get back out again after the explosion. Yuri and Kinzo found him," he added.

The two guards who had attended the two of them at the formal announcement of their betrothal had done an excellent job in ferreting out the would-be killer. He'd boldly hidden in the ranks of the off-duty guards, none of which had noticed the extra man, too agitated by what they perceived as their failure to stop the attack in the first place. But Yuri and Kinzo had quickly discovered him and brought him to immediately to Lord Iroh.

"Uncle was suspicious, of course, since it was just as likely that they were covering their own actions," he explained as he settled onto the chair next to her. "It seemed more likely to be a conspiracy than the work of just a single man. But their alibis checked out, and he remembered how supportive of you they seemed to be when we announced our betrothal. They're on guard right now," he added, nodding toward the door. "They've vowed to protect you with their lives, and I've assigned them as your permanent bodyguards from now on."

Of course, he'd been careful to watch them himself, to pass his own judgement over their motives, and had seen nothing but a sincere desire to protect both himself and the woman who'd pledged her love to him. Aside from that, Toph had vouched for their honesty once she returned, without hesitation, and that had relieved his mind to the point of full confidence in the two men.

Impulsively he leaned forward and kissed her again. "I love you," he said softly, blinking back tears. He'd already cried over Katara more than he had in the past ten years. Not that he was ashamed of his feelings; no, it was just that it wouldn't do for the Fire Lord to be seen shedding tears over anything, even if his heart was breaking.

In the end ,discipline won out over emotion, even if the struggle was intense, and so it was with dry eyes that he was able to watch as the door to Katara's room opened to admit the Chief Healer along with a woman he'd never seen before.

Instinctively he rose to his feet, hope leaping in his chest. He kept his face impassive as he waited for the Chief Healer to introduce the woman, stifling a sigh of relief as he said: "Fire Lord, may I introduce the Mind Healer Zhiana."

**The Earth Kingdom**

When Mai woke up again, Aang was sitting patiently by her side. He offered her a bowl of soup, but when she proved too shaky to feed herself, she allowed him to spoon the warm vegetable mixture into her mouth and swallowed obediently when he coaxed her to finish it.

She slumped back on the pillow after he wiped her lips and placed the bowl on the floor next to his knees. He was sitting cross-legged by the pallet he'd created from the padding on Appa's saddle. The flying buffalo's scent permeated even the blankets, but she found it comforting rather than distasteful. "Thank you," she said, pleased to find her voice stronger than it had been.

"You're welcome," Aang replied, his own voice as stiff and formal as hers had been. "You have to keep up your strength if you want to recover."

"Recover so you can finally take me back to the Fire Nation? That is what you plan on doing with me, isn't it?"

Aang avoided her eyes, fiddling with the spoon and bowl instead of answering her right away. When he did speak, it was on an entirely different subject than the one she'd raised. "Mai, there's something I've always wanted to ask you." When she raised one eyebrow enquiringly, he continued, the words coming in a rush as he asked: "What made you want to become so good at weapons?"

He was keeping her knives, needles and shuriken away from her, with the exception of one dagger hidden in the waist of his trousers. He wasn't stupid, after all, and Mai could be feigning her continuing weakness. Or not; she had lost a great a deal of blood during their fight, far more than he had from the wounds she'd managed to inflict on him before he was able to knock her unconscious.

Mai blinked, not sure why he'd raised the question, but willing to answer it. "I had a knack from the time I was small, and it was the only thing I ever mastered my father approved of," she replied after a short silence, during which she studied him through expressionless eyes. "Even though my mother hated it since it was so unladylike, I kept it up. It was the one thing I ever did to defy her," she felt compelled to add, suddenly wanting Aang to understand her better.

And that, perhaps, was why he'd asked. So when he rather diffidently asked if her mother had made her life difficult because of this "unladylike" hobby, she'd answered him just as honestly. "Of course she did. But when she discovered I wasn't going to stop doing it, when I was willing to defy her in this one matter, she eventually gave in and just ignored it, pretended it wasn't happening. If she came upon me practicing knife-throwing in the gardens, she suddenly found that it was too hot for her to be outside, or the bugs were too annoying, any excuse not to be around me doing something so distasteful. And until Tom-Tom was born, my father spent a lot of time watching me and offering me advice, even though he couldn't throw a knife properly to save his life." A bittersweet smile crossed her lips, vanishing almost as soon as it appeared. "After that, well, he never seemed to have the time to do more than tell me to keep up the good work. That's when I started spending more and more time with Azula and Zuko," she added. "That's when I finally realized what I really wanted."

"What was that?" Aang asked softly, sounding both intrigued and cautious, as if afraid he might scare her back into silence.

But no, she was ready for this conversation, for this outpouring of her most innermost thoughts. This confession of sorts, and it seemed appropriate for her to be speaking of these things to Aang. Not a friend, not quite an enemy even if she was his prisoner and had tried her level best to kill him so she could continue her escape, but the Avatar. Someone who understood her reasons for what she'd done, no matter how flimsy.

Someone who was reaching out to her, trying to understand the woman behind the actions. She appreciated this gesture more than words would ever be able to express. "I wanted to live life on my own terms," she finally said in response to his question. "Helping Azula seemed like a good way to do it, the only way I ever managed besides falling in love with Zuko, and even that my parents encouraged because of my potential future as Fire Lady." She shook her head at the irony of those expectations. "I was so tired of trying to be the perfect daughter for my mother and watching my father pour all his love onto Tom-Tom and ignore me even more than he had before I learned weapons work."

Aang offered a sad smile. "It sounds like a hard life."

Mai managed a smile of her own that never reached those cool, dark eyes that Aang gazed into so intently. "Not compared to some. I wasn't beaten or berated, I never had to do any hard work. The only time I really ever suffered was when Azula had me thrown into prison for defying her." This time emotion clouded her eyes; pain and a flash of bitter anger that Aang understood all too well as she added: "And for what? So Zuko could throw me over for that peas…for another woman," she corrected herself at the last second.

"It doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate everything you suffered, what you sacrificed for him," Aang found himself saying, surprised that he had it in him to defend Zuko at this point in time.

Mai seemed surprised as well, her eyes widening a touch as she studied his face. "You mean that," she said wonderingly. "You really mean it. Even after what Zuko and Katara did to us, you still try and find the good in him."

"I always try to find the good in everyone," Aang replied simply, and he meant that, too.

Mai turned her head away and closed her eyes with a soft sigh. "I wish I could do that," she admitted after a short silence. "I really do. But I can't. I'm glad I didn't kill them," she added tonelessly, but Aang had learned to interpret her apparent lack of expression in both voice and face, and recognized that she, too, meant her words.

"So where does that leave us?" he wondered aloud, eliciting an unexpected snort of laughter from Mai. The first he'd ever heard from her.

"It leaves you where you've always been," Mai replied, the bitterness rising unchecked in her voice this time as she turned her head to face him once again. Her arms, which had been lying quietly by her sides, moved until they crossed over her chest. She hugged herself as if a sudden draft had chilled her, but Aang knew the coldness came from within her. "You're the Avatar, and even if you punched Zuko in the nose every day for the rest of your life, you'd still be the Avatar. And I'm still a wanted would-be assassin, a traitor with a death sentence over her head. Your prisoner," she added, although curiously the bitterness subsided with those two words.

Aang had no response; she was correct in everything she'd said. Still, he had to try. "Mai, I have to take you back, we both know it. Duty and honor both require it. But I promise, I'll do everything in my power to get Zuko to banish you rather than have you put to death. You know I will."

She sighed, unwilling to argue with him about this. "I know you will," she finally replied. "Even after I attacked you, even after everything I did, I know you'll do everything in your power to save me, and I appreciate that."

He sensed the effort it took her to speak those words and nodded grave acceptance of her tacit apology. When she reached up a shaky hand to his, he took it unhesitatingly.

When she pulled him down to him to plant a gentle kiss on his lips, he felt flustered and hurriedly extricated himself from her hold. "Um, Mai, I don't think this is the right time…"

"I just wanted to say thank you," she replied, a ghost of a smile briefly haunting her lips. "And good-bye."

With that, she plunged the knife she'd slipped out of his belt into her chest.

"Life…on my…own terms," she managed to murmur before her eyes glazed over completely and her head slumped to one side.

Aang held her, silent sobs wracking his frame. He'd wanted so much to save her, and in saving her, redeem her, but she'd done what she'd probably intended all along.

And there was nothing he could do about it except mourn her loss.

* * *

_A/N: I thought long and hard about how this last scene was going to play out. I know Mai was determined to live in earlier scenes, but gradually I realized that all she had ever wanted was to live her life by her own terms-and that she'd probably want to end it that way as well. Sorry, no happy endings for her in this story. But I promise, there will be for others. Please R&R, as always, I appreciate your comments and (constructive) criticisms._


	16. Butterfly Kisses

**Part Sixteen: Butterfly Kisses**

"_I saw her eyes move."_

"_They do that all the time, dope. She's not waking up yet."_

_Sounds of shoving and jostling _

"_How would you know? You can't even…"_

"_Better not go there, Boomerang Boy. Better not go there."_

_Silence_

"_There! Look! You saw it that time, didn't you, Suki?" Excited voice, male_

_The sound of feet approaching _

"_I think so…" Doubtfully spoken words, female_

"_Relax, Sokka, she's coming to. I can feel her heart rate and breathing increasing." The other female voice_

_A low growl of a voice, male "Will you all _please_ shut up and let the Healer do her work? Or I'm kicking you out now, Fire Lord's prerogative!"_

_Sudden silence and stillness, no more shuffling feet or voices. Cool fingers against her temples, and with that touch a sudden return of all senses but sight…why no sight? Oh yes, her eyes. They must be closed. What to do about it… A low voice inside her head: "Open your eyes." The voice, still little more than a whisper in her mind but growing in insistence: "Open your eyes, Katara, open them…"_

Katara opened her eyes.

Sound and sight and smell and sensation, which had been slowly returning, now exploded in a burst of noise, color, the feel of fingers entwined with hers, the mingled scents of flowers and people and…roasted meat?

That scent brought Katara's eyes unerringly to her brother, who was crowded with Toph, Suki, and a strange woman near the head of the bed. As expected, her brother was holding a skewer of roasted meat up near his mouth as if about to take a bite. She smiled at him, then her eyes wandered down to her hands. The fingers so tightly gripping hers were pale, the nails bitten down to the quick, and she followed the hands to the arms and up to the smiling face of Zuko.

He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on her knuckles before releasing her and offering the chair he'd been occupying to the stranger. "Please, Healer, you must be exhausted."

"I am," the woman admitted, but she was smiling at Katara as well. She wasn't as pale as a native of the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom, nor as dark as a member of the Water Tribe, but somewhere in between, a sort of golden tan that set off her dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. She leaned down and stared intently into Katara's eyes. "How are you feeling, my dear?"

How was she feeling? Katara thought about the question for a moment before answering. "Tired," she admitted. "Thirsty."

Instantly three pairs of hands were thrusting small cups of water toward her. She took the one her brother was offering, allowing him to help her up to sip out of it as the Healer continued to study her. When she finished, Katara sighed happily and returned to the pillow. "Better," she said drowsily.

"She'll sleep, a natural sleep, for a few hours. Then she'll wake and most likely be thirsty again, possibly hungry as well," the Healer was saying as Katara felt herself slipping back into sleep.

**oOo**

"Hey, how ya feeling, Sugar Queen?"

Toph. Of course it would be Toph who'd be there when she woke up, so she couldn't even pretend to still be asleep. And the way her head was pounding, opening her eyes was the last thing she wanted to do…

"Here, the Healer said you should drink this as soon as you woke up." Toph moved closer and pressed a cup of something warm into Katara's hand. "Can you sit up?"

"Yes, of course I can sit up," Katara grumbled. She attempted to suit actions to words, only to fall back onto her pillow with a groan as a wave of dizziness overcame her.

"Wow, great job," Toph said, lifting the cup out of the way. "Wanna try that again, or you gonna let me help you?"

Katara responded by reaching up and grasping Toph's sturdy arm, pulling herself upward while the young Earth Bender reached behind her and literally shoved her into a sitting position. "Hey, watch it!" Katara snapped, reaching up with her free hand to rub her head. Spirits, it ached…

"Whoa, Sugar Queen woke up mean!" Toph was grinning as she pushed the cup into Katara's face. "Here, drink this. Doctor's orders."

Katara took a cautious sniff, then a small sip. It was warm and delicious, some kind of tea with a slight fruity edge to it. She downed the entire contents of the cup and handed it back to Toph, who'd retreated after plumping up Katara's pillows so she could lean back against the headboard. "Thanks. And sorry for being such a grump. My head really hurts and I'm still tired, and…" Her voice trailed off as she took notice of her surroundings for the first time. "I'm back in the medical wing! What happened?"

Toph hopped up onto the bed and sat cross-legged by Katara's side. "You tell me what you remember first, then I'll catch you up."

At that moment the door opened, and without skipping a beat, Toph amended her previous statement: "Then Zuko will catch you up." She hopped right back off the bed and headed toward the door. "She took her medicine, nice and easy, says her head hurts and she's pretty weak."

Katara scowled at Toph's retreating back, then forced a bright smile for Zuko as he walked over and sat in the chair by her bed. "Hey!" She reached out with one hand, smiling for real when he covered it with his own. "Toph's exaggerating. I'm fine."

Zuko looked at her expressionlessly. "You're fine. You're sure."

She nodded, then winced with pain. "OK, maybe I'm only mostly fine," she mumbled as she leaned back against the pillow. "But I'll be a lot better once you tell me how I ended up here again. What happened?"

"What's the last thing you do remember?" Zuko countered, unknowingly echoing Toph.

Katara closed her eyes and concentrated. She'd been with Zuko, she definitely remembered that and told him so. When he asked her where they'd been, however, she came up blank. "I just remember you were there, wherever it was, then something happened…and I woke up here."

She looked at him expectantly; when no words were forthcoming on his part, she twisted free of his hold and folded her hands together tightly. "Zuko. Tell me."

Quietly he reached out and once again covered her hands with his, hitching the chair forward as he did so. She allowed the touch, never moving her eyes away from his, waiting. "There was another attack."

She let her breath out in a sigh. "I thought so. What happened?"

He told her, keeping nothing back, including how worried he'd been when she didn't wake up until the Mind Healer helped her back from wherever she'd hidden herself away.

Katara found that fact—that she'd been so damaged, so scared, that she'd literally been unable to wake up without help—more disturbing than the attack itself. She'd never, _ever_ been one to run away from a fight. She never looked for one, of course, but never let fear overrule her when faced with a challenge.

And two assassination attempts in as many days was certainly a challenge. Putting aside her disturbing reaction to this latest attempt on her life, she asked Zuko if anything had been discovered about who was behind it.

He shook his head, lips thinned into an angry line. "No. We know the first guy acted alone, in the heat of the moment. But this…this was organized. Which means probably supporters of my father. Or Azula."

It was the first time he'd so much as mentioned his sister's name since before the coronation ceremony. Katara felt his grip tighten on her hands before he forced his fingers to relax. She gazed at him in concern and asked the question she'd been wondering about for weeks now. "Is it possible she's faking her insanity?"

Azula had been confined to a private wing of the palace, far from the public areas, not thrown into the dungeons to await trial as they their father was currently doing. Zuko had chosen to wait until treaties had been negotiated and the nations settled down into their new normal before doing anything about his father, and now he was putting it off even longer because of the threats to his life and that of Katara. But his sister spent her days, or so they believed, raving about plots against her and attacking anyone who tried to approach her. As much for her own safety as that of others, Aang had been forced to take away her Bending just as he'd removed Ozai's.

"If she is, she should have made a life on the stage," Zuko growled, springing to his feet and pacing the length of the room and back again. "The Ember Island Players could have used her to play herself. But," he shrugged and returned to his abandoned chair, "she could be. Since we have a Mind Healer here, I guess it's time to find out for sure."

He'd been resistant to the idea of fetching one to the palace sooner, mostly for Azula's own sake; if it became widely known that she was incapacitated in such a manner, she'd be fair game for anyone trying to kill her or use her for their own purposes. In spite of everything she'd done, in spite of her many crimes in the name of ambition, she was still his sister. And everything she'd done had been as much out of her twisted desire to gain their father's attention as a desire for power.

Zuko understood; he, too, had been driven to many of his more extreme actions by the same needs. Well, not so much power; he knew he'd never craved it the way his sister seemed to have done since birth. Fortunately, he'd learned through painful experience that their father's love wasn't worth obtaining, not least of all because the man didn't seem truly capable of feeling that particular emotion. He was grateful he'd come to his senses before he, too, ended up as twisted and out of touch with reality as his sister currently was.

Or as out of touch with reality as she seemed. If any good at all had come out of the attacks on Katara, it was the ready-made excuse to bring a Mind Healer to the palace. Now that Katara was healed, perhaps Zhiana could give his sister the help she so desperately needed…or prove that she was as cunning and deceitful as ever.

Before he could voice his concerns and hopes to Katara, the door to her room burst open and Sokka rushed up to her side, shouldering Zuko aside in order to give his sister an enthusiastic hug. "Hey, you're awake! It's about time…er, Dad was getting pretty worried."

Katara grinned at her brother as he finally released her and stepped back enough to let her breathe again. "I'm sure he was. Sorry about that."

Sokka shot Zuko a dark look. "Yeah, well, if you'd just give up this crazy idea that you're in love with Prince Hot Head here…"

Katara frowned. "Don't even go there," she warned, eyes flashing angrily. "It's not his fault if some people are too narrow minded to accept our relationship."

Sokka's eyes narrowed; it was obvious he was in the mood for a fight, even if his sister wasn't necessarily in the best condition to be arguing right at the moment. With that in mind, Zuko pushed his way between the two siblings. "Not right now, Sokka, okay? Wait till she's a little stronger before you start in on her."

Sokka turned his glare on Zuko. "And who's fault is it she's in this condition?" he snapped, poking the Fire Lord in the chest. "Yours. If you really love her, you'll break off this stupid betrothal…"

"Sokka! That's enough!" The voice came from the open doorway, and all three turned to look, startled, as a visibly angry Hakoda strode into the room, the Mind Healer hard on his heels. "Your sister has made her decision; the least you can do is accept it. I have."

Sokka stepped away from the bed, an almost comical expression of confusion transforming his features in an instant. "But Dad…" he stammered.

"No buts, son," his father replied sternly. "I suggest you go somewhere and cool off before you come back in here. And when you do," he added warningly as he took his son's arm and steered him to the door, "it had better not be to pick a fight you're going to lose." With that, he pushed his son none too gently through the door and closed it behind him.

Katara gaped at her father; when he said he was going to support her relationship with Zuko, she honestly hadn't believed that he meant it. Certainly not to the point where he'd side with her against Sokka about her betrothal. "Thanks, Dad," she stammered.

He looked at her, eyes still flashing with anger. "Don't mistake me, Katara," he ground out. "I'm still not thrilled about this relationship you insist on pursuing. But no one, and I mean no one, gets away with trying to force you to do something against her will, be it unknown assassins trying to scare you away or your brother butting into something that's none of his business."

"Um, okay, great," Zuko put in quickly. "But I think Mind Healer Zhiana needs to examine Katara again.

"It's nice to see you awake, Lady Katara," the Healer said with a smile as she took the seat Zuko offered her. "I'm pleased to have been able to help you."

Katara thanked her, nodding when the Mind Healer asked permission to place her slender fingers on the young Water Bender's temples. She reached forward, and both women's eyes closed at the same instant as the Mind Healer reopened the temporary bond she'd established in order to coax Katara back to the land of the living. She pulled away seconds later, a satisfied smile on her face. "There's no chance of a relapse," she announced. "Your spirit is fully anchored to the here and now. As soon as you're fully recovered physically, you can return to her normal routine."

"Her normal routine plus a few extra guards," Zuko growled, then gave Zhiana a formal bow and offered his thanks. "If we can prevail on you for one more task," he added, and she nodded in understanding.

"Yes, I'll be happy to do as you've asked of me," she said. "As soon as you're ready."

"No time like the present," Zuko said grimly. He went around the bed and pressed a series of light kisses across Katara's forehead, gently urging her to lay back down as he did so. He kissed each of her eyes as she closed them in sudden weariness, then pressed a last kiss to her lips. "I'll see you later," he whispered, gently brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. "I promise, you'll be safe from now on."

She wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but the weariness was drawing her rapidly back to sleep, so all she did was nod. She heard him leave the room, the Mind Healer right behind him, then smiled sleepily as she heard the creak of the chair by her bed. Her father was settling in to keep watch over her, and she drew a great deal of comfort from his continued presence.

She drifted off to sleep, and Hakoda sat and watched her for several hours until he, too, dozed off.

When a bruised and battered Aang returned with Mai's body later the next day, two things had happened: Katara was out of bed and back to full strength, and the Princess Azula had murdered the Mind Healer and made her escape.

* * *

_A/N: See, here's the thing: Azula wasn't supposed to be in this story at all, but she muscled her way in and kind of took over the end of this chapter. Please R&R, I hope you're still enjoying the ride!_


	17. Dangerous Kisses

**Part Seventeen: Dangerous Kisses**

Toph was the first one to realize Aang had returned. Considering the upheaval in the palace, it was no surprise no one was keeping an eye out for him. It was the distinctive aroma of flying buffalo that caught the young Earth Bender's attention as she hurried across the wide stone courtyard on her way to an emergency council meeting. She skidded to a stop, then changed direction and headed as quickly as her feet could carry her to greet Aang. "Great timing," she said. "You'll never guess…"

Another scent caught her attention, and the words died in her throat as she realized Aang wasn't alone…and that his companion wasn't among the living. "Mai?" she asked softly.

"Yes," Aang replied as he lowered himself to the ground. He held Mai's body, wrapped in the sheets she'd been sleeping on, tied with his own sash. "She killed herself rather than let me bring her back to face justice."

"Wow." Toph was speechless; she'd never have expected Needles to off herself, not in a million years. Die fighting, yes; suicide, no. "I'm sorry." And she was; not that Mai was dead, but because it was obviously hurting Aang that she'd done so. He held all life as sacred; Toph knew he'd never have been able to kill the stupid girl, no matter how upset he was at her stabbing Katara and leaving her to die.

She just hoped everyone else would believe him. And if they didn't, well, they'd have her to deal with.

"What's going on? What am I never going to guess?" Aang asked as he gently rested his burden on the stone courtyard paving. He spoke in a low monotone, but Toph could tell he was terribly upset by what Mai had done. Just another reason to hate the cold-hearted bitch…no, cold-hearted was the wrong word; Toph would at least acknowledge that Mai had been far more hot-blooded than anyone had dreamed.

"It can wait," Toph said, making up her mind in an instant. "We need to take care of Need—uh, Mai first."

"I thought about just bringing the body to her family so they could give her a proper burial, but I dunno, I guess I just didn't feel up to dealing with them."

Toph put a hand on Aang's shoulder. He sounded so lost, so defeated. So unlike his usual, annoyingly optimistic self. "You did the right thing, Aang," she said, her voice as serious as he'd ever heard it. "Zuko's the Fire Lord, he should be the one to decide what to do about…well, it's up to him. Let's just take her to the royal mortuary, all right? I'll help you carry her if you want."

"No." Aang shrugged his shoulder from beneath Toph's loose grasp, then bent and lifted Mai's shrouded form in his arms. "I'll do it."

They made it only as far as the entrance to the courtyard before a harried-looking court official intercepted them. "Avatar! Thank the spirit's you're back! Has Lady Be Fong told you…" He stopped short as it finally registered on him what exactly Aang was carrying. "Ah, your pardon," he mumbled, backing up a step and making a surreptitious warding sign against evil spirits. "I'll summon guards to bring—uh, that is Lady Lah Bin, is it not?"

"I'll take care of her," Aang said shortly, pushing past the flustered official without a backward glance.

"Go tell the Fire Lord we'll get to the council meeting when we're finished," Toph called over her shoulder as she hurried to catch up with Aang. "But just tell him Aang's back, we'll fill him in on the rest!"

**oOo**

"I still don't understand how this happened."

Zuko was pacing, while Katara sat anxiously on the wide sill of the open window in the smaller of the four council chambers the palace boasted. "It wasn't your fault," she began, then fell silent as he whirled to face her, his face so full of anguish and self-loathing that she bolted from her perch and rushed up to embrace him.

They were alone in the room, still waiting for Toph and the others he'd summoned, including her father and brother, Suki, and his uncle. He allowed himself to take comfort in the feel of Katara's arms as she hugged him tightly, then gently disentangled himself and stepped away from her. She recognized his "official Fire Lord" expression and pose, and schooled her own features into some semblance of control.

It had been a terrible day, one that started at dawn when a horrified servant had discovered the Mind Healer's mutilated body. The girl's screams had brought the guards that stood at constant watch outside Azula's chamber door, and they in turn had summoned more of their fellows to alert the rest of the palace, although they'd had the presence of mind to keep the hysterical maid as quiet as possible until a Healer could be fetched to calm her down.

Their captain had personally delivered the grim news to Zuko, and Katara, a light sleeper most of the time, had been awakened by the ensuing disturbances—running feet, the muted clamor of an alarm somewhere in the distance, the sound of hushed voices passing her bedchamber door. All of which had brought her instantly to her feet. She threw on the same clothes she'd been wearing the day before, not yet removed by the servants for cleaning and pressing, and hurried out to see what was happening.

At first, her own guards were reluctant to tell her, but after she pointedly reminded them that she was the Fire Lord's betrothed, they told everything they knew, which wasn't much. Only that Mind Healer Zhiana was dead, apparently murdered by the Princess Azula…who was now missing.

"Spirits," she'd murmured helplessly. Zhiana had been so kind…she felt tears welling up in her eyes and forced them away. Now was not the time to mourn, not until her killer had been recaptured. If, of course, it was Azula who'd done the deed, and not someone who'd merely used the opportunity of the Mind Healer's presence to put their own twisted plans into motion.

Now, hours later, they knew at least this much: Azula had, indeed, killed Zhiana herself. She'd been spotted fleeing the palace by a guard patrolling the battlements, but had attacked and nearly killed him, leaving him for dead in the middle of his shift, hours before anyone would have normally been up to relieve him. However, during the hue and cried he'd been found and brought to the Healers, who'd managed to bring him to consciousness long enough to confirm that it was the Princess Azula who'd burned him so badly, and that she'd taken the time to gloat over her brother's idiocy in believing she'd truly lost her mind.

The real mystery, one even more alarming than all the other horrific events of today and the previous night, was how she'd regained her Bending abilities.

"Until we find her or whoever's helping her, there's no way for us to know how it happened," Katara said as her mind returned to the present. She retreated back to her perch on the windowsill as Zuko in turn resumed pacing, although with a great deal more of his usual control masking the inner turmoil Katara knew he was still suffering. He blamed himself, and no matter how many time she or anyone assured him it wasn't his fault, he'd never believe them.

The sound of the door opening caught their attention; both turned to see who it was, Zuko automatically halting his pacing and taking a "parade rest" stance near the low table in the center of the room. He relaxed only fractionally as his uncle entered the room, closing the door firmly behind him. "Well, nephew, it seems we have a situation on our hands."

Zuko scrubbed one hand over his face. "I know, Uncle. Azula's escaped…"

"And Suki and Sokka, I'm afraid, are missing," Iroh finished with a gently sympathetic glance at Katara. "There's a very good possibility that your sister has them.

**Elsewhere**

Azula laughed aloud, tossing her head back as she watched her pilot steer the small airship over one of the many forests that covered the northern part of the Fire Kingdom. Freedom! It tasted of charcoal and ash, fuel for her vengeance. Freedom! While Zuko stewed and simmered and tried to find her, no, he never would, but he and that peasant he'd betrothed himself to would pay, and pay dearly.

Just like the Avatar. He'd pay, too, for emasculating her father and murdering her best friend and stealing her Fire Bending and turning her into one of _them_. One of the thousands and thousands who lived out their wretched lives in obscurity, destined for nothing but bland mundanity from cradle to cremation. Not for her, oh no, not for her, never for her. She was Azula, rightful Fire Lord.

Aang would give her back her full Bending or she'd rip out his entrails and feed them to the wolverine-pigs.

Her pilot gave her a startled look over his shoulder, and she realized she'd spoken that last threat aloud, that she'd been cackling and mumbling to herself like the madwoman she'd been pretending (only pretending, she was perfectly sane, perfectly sane, perfectly perfect, daddy'd always said so and Daddy never lied to her) to be. She offered him a sweet smile laced with poison and said: "Are we there yet?" When he shook his head no, she asked in a more pointed tone of voice: "Then shouldn't you be looking out the window and not. At. ME?"

The last word was almost a scream, and the man hurriedly turned back to doing his job, which was what he was being paid for, and paid well if her fellow conspirators had done their part correctly. And of course they had; she was here, wasn't she, free and with her Bending back, although not as strongly as she'd had it before. Aang had crippled her, and she intended to do the same, to cut his powers away and slash his face and kill his wretched Water Bender and…and…and anything else she wanted to because she was the Fire Lord, not Zuko.

She unwillingly, grudgingly offered up a small thank you to the Spirits for sending the Mind Healer to her. She was the one who'd inadvertently kindled the tiny spark of power still remaining, locked deep inside Azula's mind, she who'd fanned the spark into a flame as she delved into the heart of Azula's madness.

And it was she who'd provided the first outlet for Azula's rage, her body that had served as the unwilling recipient of those first, faltering flames fountaining from fingertips, formed from fury, freed from fractious frustration…

Her thoughts were alliterative again, a sign she was about to lose control and just blast out at the nearest object or person. She retained enough control to stop herself, to curb her exuberance and anger and keep them inside her own head instead of blasting out through her fingertips. "Just a little longer," she whispered to herself, then turned with a giggle to face her newest acquisitions.

"Just a little longer," she crooned as she squatted down to regard the trussed-up prisoners who were staring back at her out of wary eyes. Too bad she had to gag them or they could talk. "You two are so joined at the hip, you know that's why I took you both when I really only needed one hostage, right?" She knelt and reached out to tug playfully at Sokka's ear. "You should be thanking me for not separating you two." Then she leaned forward and planted a delicate kiss on his forehead, in the exact spot her bitch of a deserting mother used to kiss when Azula was a little girl. "Just a little longer," she whispered again, then glared at Suki, who glared right back at her. "What, no one's allowed to kiss your boyfriend but you? Too damn bad."

She'd do it again, why not? Why not kiss Sokka…too bad about the gag. Still, he didn't really need it anymore…she slipped her knife from its sheath and held it up, mesmerized by her reflection. She needed a hair cut again. The knife rose and hovered over her head as if it were controlling her instead of she controlling it, and with a bitten-off curse she grabbed Sokka's gag in one hand and slashed at it with the knife. No one controlled her, not her brother, not the Avatar, certainly not a stupid piece of metal.

When his mouth was freed, Sokka watched warily until Azula re-sheathed the blade, then spoke. "Look, Azula, this is a really bad idea," he started to say, but her eyes blazed with anger and she slapped him, hard, so hard he bit his tongue.

She leaned forward again. "Shut up," she growled, then fell silent, seemingly hypnotized by his face. No, not his face; Sokka grimaced as he realized she was staring intently at his mouth. Her hand drifted upward, the same hand that had just slapped him silly, and her fingers reached, trembling, for his lips. She brushed against them, then pulled them back, examining something. The blood from his bitten tongue. He refrained from spitting out the remainder of the blood, not sure what she would do next. Unpredictable didn't even come close to describing the Azula who had bashed him and Suki over the head and taken them prisoner; even "dangerously unpredictable" sounded to tame when he tried the phrase out in his mind. And what was with the staring at the blood?

Against all caution and instinct, he opened his mouth to ask her, when she darted her head forward, seized his own head firmly in her hands, and kissed him. Hard. Tongue and all, and either not minding or, yuck, actually wanting to taste the blood in his mouth.

He heard Suki make a kind of squeaking-growling noise from behind her gag and knew she was wanting some blood of her own—preferably Azula's. Not that he objected, but neither one of them was exactly in a position to do much more than, well, nothing. Just sit there and take it. They were bound hand and foot and tied to a sturdy couple of pipes that thankfully seemed to carry cold water rather than steam since they were clammy and damp rather than roasting them alive.

The kiss ended abruptly. He hadn't bothered trying to squirm away, even though he really, really wanted to. Nor had he tried to bite her tongue, mostly because if he did she'd probably kill him, but also because he didn't want her blood mixing with his in his mouth. Double gross.

Azula continued to kneel before him, but this time her eyes seemed to actually be focusing on him and forced himself to pay close attention; if she was in one of her lucid phases, she might slip and tell them something useful, like where they were heading or who was helping her. Before he could find a way to phrase a question, however, her eyes once again went out of focus and she rose to her feet and wandered off, humming softly to herself.

He traded glances with Suki, who still looked ready to commit murder, and tried to make his own eyes as sympathetic as possible as he whispered, "I know, she's totally nuts." He turned his head aside and finally rid himself of as much of the blood in his mouth as he could, while Azula wasn't paying attention and therefore couldn't take it into her crazy head to cut his off for offending her delicate sensibilities or messing up the floor or some such nonsense. "Sorry you had to see that," he added, wincing as Suki's eyes narrowed in an expression he knew was reserved for him instead of Azula. "What did you want me to do, spit in her face?" Suki nodded, once, emphatically and he sighed. "You know if I did that she'd do something crazy—totally nuts, remember?"

Suki turned her head away, then just as abruptly turned it back to face him. She had a much less severe cast to her eyes now, and he took it to mean that he was forgiven. "I wish I could kiss you," he murmured, craning his neck as best he could and still ending up inches away from her outstretched cheek.

"Sorry, Sokka, no more talk-talk!" Azula's voice had a sing-song quality to it that sent chills down her prisoner's spine. His gag was unceremoniously stuffed back into his sore mouth while Azula busied herself tying it into place with a new piece of fabric—one, he noticed, she must have cut from her sleeve, which now hung raggedly loose, cuff-less. Yup, totally nuts.

What a situation to be in. He prayed earnestly to every Spirit he could think of, including his beloved Yue, that someone would come after them as quickly as possible and get them out of this mess.

* * *

_A/N: OK, this story will never be as dark as "In Time of War", but Bad Things Happen when Azula is on the loose. I hope I got across how crazy-nutso she still is, even if she's able to control herself a bit, sadly thanks to Zhiana the deceased Mind Healer. And if you're wondering if Azula's escape and the attacks on Katara are related...stay tuned. :)_


	18. Kiss On My List

**Part Eighteen: Kiss On My List**

The attacks on Katara ended as soon as Princess Azula had made her escape. Or as soon as Suki and Sokka were kidnapped, depending on your point of view.

The only reason any one had the time or the inclination to notice this fact was because it was over a week before they got a single lead on where Azula had gone to ground, and thus had plenty of time to notice things like that.

Of course, it wasn't Katara who brought it up at the evening meeting on that seventh day; she was far too distracted by her brother's abduction to be aware of anything outside the need to find him. "So, who else thinks the attacks on Katara were just a distraction?" Toph piped up during an uncomfortable pause about a half hour into the meeting.

Katara had just finished ranting—which, in Toph's private opinion was the only way to put it—yet again about the need to kill Azula DEAD, and the young Earth Bender figured it was as good a time as any to broach the subject.

Stunned silence met her words; at least, the quality of the silence felt different to her even with only one foot planted firmly on the cool tile floor of the council chamber. She picked at the toenails of her other foot as it rested on her knee and she felt no small satisfaction at knowing she was the cause of the current consternation this time.

"Wha-what do you mean?" Katara stammered out, but Zuko was already murmuring instructions to one of the guards or pages hovering next to him, so obviously he'd taken Toph's suggestion seriously while Sugar Queen was still dithering.

"The one guy tried to flame you right after you guys announced your betrothal," Toph recounted patiently. "Then someone blew up your bedroom. And there were at least three other attempts before Azula escaped, while you were unconscious."

Iroh must have nodded confirmation of Toph's words, judging by the startled "What?" that Sparky offered up in response. Huh. She didn't think the old tea-drinker would've kept something like that from his nephew.

"They were stopped well before they got anywhere near to Katara," he said stoically. "The suspects are in custody. After Azula escaped, I put off questioning them. Now, however, if Miss Be Fong, is correct, which I don't doubt, then questioning them will become a priority once again."

"Right. Fine. But you're sure, there's been nothing since my sister escaped?" Zuko sounded grim, as well he should.

"Not even rumors or so much as a hint of unrest or uneasiness," Iroh confirmed. "I'm sorry, Nephew. I should have made the connection myself."

"Don't worry about it," Zuko snapped. He didn't bother asking Toph how she knew about the additional attempts on Katara's life, but she suspected she'd get an earful from him later. "It can't be a coincidence."

"Even if it's true, does it really matter?" Katara countered, sounding angry. Hmm, might be time to give Sugar Queen a new nickname. Toph decided she'd have to think about it later as her friend continued: "Whether it's true or not, we shouldn't be wasting our time worrying about that, we need to find my brother and Suki!"

She shifted restlessly on her cushion, and Toph recognized the motion as a prelude to her bouncing to her feet and demanding that Aang take her up on Appa to look for her brother. Then Sparky would patiently remind her that they had no idea which direction Azula's small airship had taken after it left the capital, and Twinkle Toes would vow to search the entire world if he had to to find Sokka, then Sparky would say something about a poor use of their resources and how they all had to be patient and let the air patrols do their jobs and report in…blah, blah, blah.

Toph jumped to her feet and smacked her hands together. Loudly. "OK," she said, once she sensed she'd regained the attention of every person in the room. "So. If the attacks were diversions and Azula still has accomplices in the palace, we need to figure out a way to sniff them out. Before, we couldn't figure out where to begin since no one with an ounce of sense would admit to being in Crazy's pay and none of us thought about questioning the assassins. So let's get on and see if they can lead us to whoever else is in on it."

"Toph's right," Zuko agreed. "Katara," he added, his voice softening, "we'll find them. I promise."

"I know," she muttered, then there was the sound of kissing, probably on the cheek rather than lip to lip considering the public circumstances, and even that was bound to be gossiped about, but at least Katara had been prevented from once again flying off the handle. Although it was good to see that Miss Unflappable could really lose her cool, Sokka being kidnapped was not exactly how Toph would have liked to have it happen.

That was the end of it, as far as the meeting went, much to Toph's relief. Honestly, twice-a-day briefings were a bit of overkill, especially when they boiled down to "nope, nothing new yet, sorry". At least she'd come up with something new today, she thought, a bit smugly. Something no one else had thought about. No one but her…

"So you took me seriously, I guess." Toph, who'd been on her way outside to the garden, gave a guilty start.

Aang was standing right behind her; when had he gotten so darn good at sneaking up on people? That was supposed to be her area of expertise. Still, she did owe him some credit for planting the idea in her head about Katara's attacks being diversions to keep everyone's attention off the supposedly crazy-and-safely-contained Azula. "Yeah, I thought about it and it made sense. I did wait for you to bring it up," she added virtuously as Aang fell into step next to her, obviously intent on continuing the conversation even if she wasn't going to stop walking.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't think of a way of saying it that didn't sound like I blamed Zuko for not figuring it out himself," he muttered.

"Still mad at him, huh," Toph offered.

"Yeah," Aang replied, scuffing his feet a bit as they reached the outside door. He was obviously waiting for her to open it herself, and she grinned as she did so. He kept wanting to do gentlemanly things like opening doors and pulling out chairs for her. She'd break him of it yet.

"You're not gonna punch him again, are you?" Toph asked, genuinely interested. Yeah, she was worried about Sokka and Suki and the fact that Crazy was off doing who-knew-what to them, but unlike Katara, she knew there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. When the moment came to act, of course, she'd be all over it, but until then she couldn't see the point in just moping around all the time. That had been how Mai operated, and look how _that_ worked out.

"No!" Aang spluttered as they reached the small rock garden hidden away in the center of one of the more lushly planted gardens. It made for a nice, private spot to chat, away from any prying eyes and ears. True, people could try and hide themselves away in the greenery, but as long as Toph's feet were firmly planted on the ground, she'd be able to find them. Not that she suspected anyone of spying on her and Aang, of course, but still. You never knew. Especially if Azula truly did still have confederates on the palace grounds.

Aang was still talking while her mind wandered, and she hurriedly returned her attention to him when he added morosely: "I should never have hit him in the first place."

"Sure you should have," Toph disagreed. She settled onto the ground, wiggling her bare toes into the earth and sighing contentedly. She was never happier than when in her Element, and she suspected that was true of most Benders. Well, maybe more true for Earth Benders, who didn't have to get soaking wet or risk burning themselves or spend a lot of effort to stay airborne in order to enjoy immersing themselves in their Element. "He stole your girl, right? I'd've punched him too." She smacked one hand in the other in illustration.

"Yeah, well, you can't steal something away from someone it never belonged to," Aang replied, sounding even more depressed. "Look, Toph, do we really have to talk about this now?"

"Yeah, Twinkle Toes, we do. Cause you're right, she never really was yours to begin with, and it's time you realized that." Toph startled even herself with the bluntness of her words; she'd been trying to work on her diplomacy, she really had, but in this case she stood by those words and no amount of sugar-coating would change her opinion on the matter. Aang needed to get over Katara, and fast, or he'd never be half the Avatar he could be.

When she expressed that thought to Aang, she could feel his heartbeat increase with anger, but at least he was still listening to her. A good sign.

After a long moment, during which Toph laid bets with herself as to whether Aang would stay around to talk or just get up and leave, he heaved a heavy sigh. "You're right. She wasn't. Only I was too stupid to realize it."

"No, you were crushing on her too hard to realize it," Toph corrected him. "Just like I was crushing on Sokka for so long. It took me overhearing him and Suki in his tent one night for me to realize I didn't have a chance." She pulled a face, wrinkling her nose in remembered distaste. "Spirits, that girl is noisy!"

It took Aang a minute to understand what she was talking about; when he did, Toph could practically feel the heat from the blush he must be sporting radiating off his skin as if he were practicing his Fire Bending. "Uh, yeah, OK," he stuttered. "Um, can we change the subject? Please?"

"Only if you're gonna finally admit you have to get over Katara. She's moved on, you need to do the same," Toph insisted. "No, I'm not saying run right out and find a new girlfriend—a REAL girlfriend," she stressed. "I'm just saying, try not to hold onto your anger and jealousy. It'll only get you into trouble."

"Wow. When did you get so wise?" Aang asked, sounding awed. And a bit intimidated.

Toph shrugged. "Dunno. Listening to Uncle, I guess. He makes a lot of sense as long as you don't get him started on tea."

Aang actually laughed out loud at that quip. "Yeah, he can be a little weird about tea," he agreed. "And Toph?" She tilted her head enquiringly. "Thanks. You're a good friend."

Then he rose to his feet, snapped open his glider and flew away.

Toph kicked a pebble into the air with one foot and plinked it across the circular clearing with one finger as he left. "Yeah, a good friend," she mumbled, head downturned. "At least you notice that much, you muttonheaded male."

Ah well. Maybe one day…

**oOo**

"Zuko, do you really think Toph's right?"

The young Fire Lord took his betrothed into his arms and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Yeah, I do. It makes sense."

They were standing in his mother's garden, Katara's favorite place in the palace outside the water gardens on the east side. The sun had long since set, but the moon was full and there were lanterns lit along the path.

"So you go back to chasing down leads on the attackers and, what? Stop looking for your sister until you learn something new?"

He held her closer, hearing the incipient hysteria in Katara's voice. She'd been teetering on the edge of a breakdown ever since her brother and Suki went missing, most likely a result of her fragile health after wakening from her coma. At least, so the Healers told him. They also warned him to tread carefully with her; one had even advised him not to tell her Sokka had been taken by Azula, but he wasn't about to start hiding things from her at this point in their relationship. "No, we won't stop looking for Azula," he reassured her with another kiss, this one on her lips. "We'll find her and rescue your brother and Suki, no matter how long it takes."

"I know." Katara drew a deep, shuddering breath and smiled up at him. "I know we will. I know you won't give up. I just feel so helpless!"

"We all do," Zuko admitted. "Believe me, I'm chomping at the bit, ready to just hare off after them, but I need a direction first. If we even get one report from someone that they spotted her airship or saw someone they think was her in a market, we'll be after them so fast…"

She placed a finger over his lips and smiled again. "I know," she said softly. "You don't have to work so hard to reassure me, I promise. I'll try not to be so impatient. I trust you."

Zuko felt as if his bones would melt at the loving look she gave him with those three simple words. She trusted him. He'd known she loved him, but hadn't realized until now how much he needed to hear that she trusted him as well.

Instead of saying anything else, he kissed her, held her close and hoped she could feel how much he loved her and wanted to make everything all right for her.

She sighed when the kiss ended and looked up at him again. "That one goes on my list," she murmured.

He arched his eyebrows curiously. "List? What list?"

Her smile turned coy. "Oh, just a list of kisses."

"You keep a list of kisses?" he asked, not sure he was hearing her right, but hearted by the lightness in her tone. She'd been so angry and worried all week, it was nice to see her relaxing even if only for a few minutes.

"Of course, every girl does," she replied, offering an innocent look that was spoiled by her deepening dimples. "I'll bet you guys do it, too."

Hm, he wasn't _about_ to touch that one. "So, where does this one rank?" he asked instead, playing along.

"Oh, somewhere between 'sweet first kiss' and 'wow, that made my toes tingle'," she replied, running playful fingers over his chest.

He cleared his throat; her sudden flirtatiousness was wreaking havoc on his ability to think. "So, he said, his voice rising a bit. He cleared his throat a second time, then tried again. "So." Good, steadier and deeper that time. "Who exactly are my kisses being compared to?"

She tried to maintain the innocent act, then broke into giggles as she saw the line between his eyebrows. "Oh, Zuko, don't worry!" she gasped out after a second. "It's just a list of your kisses, I promise!"

"Sure it is," he muttered, but decided to take her at her word. He didn't want to spend any time worrying about who else she might have kissed in her life. Besides Aang, of course, and from what she'd told him, those kisses hardly counted. The fact that there'd been two of them was annoying, but the fact that neither of them meant to her what they'd obviously meant to Aang was comforting.

As quickly as Katara's playful mood had come over her, it vanished. Her expression turned solemn as she stared off into the distance. "I hope they're being treated well. I hope someone comes forward to make demands soon. I hope…"

He silenced her with yet another kiss. "So do I," he said when the kiss ended. "We all do. Come on, I'll walk you to your room. We've had a long day and you need to get some sleep. You're still recovering from the explosion," he reminded her as he threaded her arm through his and began the long walk back to the private residential wing.

"Yeah, and apparently from other attempts no one bothered to tell me about," she retorted with more than a flash of irritation.

Irritation he shared, in spades. "Me either," he reminded her. "Don't worry, I'll be looking into that first thing."

"First thing in the morning, or first thing after you make sure I go to bed like a good little girl?" The irritation was growing, and now directed at him. He was coddling her, and he knew it; he just wished she didn't know it, too.

"Katara, please, just let me take you to your room. You need to rest. I promise, if I hear anything, if we find anything out, you'll be the first to know. Even if it's the middle of the night," he added, forestalling her next protest.

Unwillingly, she nodded and relaxed her stiffened posture just the tiniest bit. "I promise," Zuko murmured, and she capitulated, resting her head against his shoulder and allowing him to continue escorting her to her room. Fine, she'd let him get away with coddling her this time. But as soon as the Healers pronounced her in full health, she would make darn sure she was back in the thick of things.

* * *

_A/N: I know, it's been an unconsciounably long time since I updated. However, I do have the next chapter well begun, and will give you this much: It starts with Sokka in a not very good place, both literally and figuratively. Oh, and the title chapter? "Kiss Me Crazy." Thanks for sticking with me and for all the lovely reviews. I promise, this story will be finished and I already have another one in the works as well, entitled "One Door Closes."_


	19. Kiss Me Crazy

**Part Nineteen: Kiss Me Crazy**

"Dear, you know you really shouldn't go around kidnapping people. It's not very nice."

Azula growled at the fractured image in her cracked mirror. "Mother, I told you, I _had_ to kidnap them. Besides, the Water Tribe peasant's kind of cute, don't you think?"

"But he already has a girlfriend," her mother remonstrated gently. Just like her to point out the down side of anything Azula did; some things never changed, even after people died.

"Maybe not for long," Azula replied in a sing-song voice, her grin widening at the sorrowful expression in her mother's eyes. "Remember, I really only needed one hostage. Just one." She held up a single finger to demonstrate, in case being dead had done something to her mother's ability to count. You never knew with spirits.

Abruptly she turned away from the mirror and rose to her feet. Time to go check on her captives; her mother's spirit or reflection or whatever reminded her that it had been absolutely _hours_ since she'd visited them. She paused on the threshold to her doorway, tapping a considering finger against her chin, then smiling widely as she thought up a new plan. A better plan. One her mother would never, ever, ever approve of, even if Daddy would applaud her cleverness if he were here and not, you know, locked up forever with his powers stolen away.

Her smile vanished as her thoughts whirled her back to that familiar pain. "Aang, Aang, you're gonna pay, for taking Daddy's power away," she sang softly to herself. He'd tried to do the same to her, but look out, she was on her way back, and once she had her Bending back completely, it was only a matter of time before Daddy had his back, too, and they all paid for what they'd done.

"Han Zhi!" she called out, and her private guard stepped around the corner.

He bowed and awaited her instructions. "I want the Water Tribe peasant brought to my bathing chamber," she ordered him. "Have Li Su draw a bath for me first." She giggled girlishly. "I want to look pretty for him," she cooed.

As always, no matter how outrageous her words or actions, Han Zhi simply bowed and moved to do as she instructed. What a great guy; it was so useful that he owed the life of his sickly little kid to Azula. She'd been the one to call in the palace healers and have the little brat fixed up, and all because she knew the power of gratitude. Han Zhi would do literally anything for her, and all because he doted on his…was it a son or a daughter? She forgot, and it wasn't important anyway. The important thing was that he owed her, big time, and she'd never ever ever forget that, no matter what other things seemed to leak out of her mind at any given moment.

Still, she kept more than she lost these days, thanks to the Mind Healer. Perhaps if she'd let the woman live longer her own mind wouldn't feel as fractured as the mirror in her room.

Ah, well. What was life without regrets? "A lot more fun," she told herself as she hurried to her private bathing chamber.

They'd been delivered, as promised, to the remote hunting lodge of an Ozai loyalist. One who stood to lose a lot of property and status when the Fire Nation was finished being whittled back to its original borders thanks to her brothers ineptness at the negotiating table. She scowled. Of all the bird-brained schemes her brother had hatched, this one had to be the worst. Well, second worst after getting himself engaged to that cheap little peasant girl.

Now, she, herself, had no illusions as to exactly what to use a Water Tribe peasant for. If you found one attractive, you did what your body wanted you to do with them, then tossed them back in the dungeon with their stupid Kyoshi Island warrior girlfriend. You certainly didn't announce your intention to marry them, for Agni's sake! She shook her head sadly as she entered the bath chamber. Zuzu would never learn.

There wasn't much in the way of furnishings in the bathing chamber—a shelf on which to place her clothing, another shelf holding her favorite bath-salts and soaps, towels and wash cloths, a hairbrush and a small hand-mirror. Her mother never appeared to her in that mirror, so she felt safe enough keeping it close by.

She made her way to the large, sunken pond of a tub, already filled with steaming water scented with her favorite bath herbs. She drew in a deep breath and starting pulling off her clothes. Li Su stepped forward to help her, and Azula allowed it, not even bothering to try and terrorize the girl. She was already thoroughly cowed, having been the focus of more than one of Azula's temper tantrums since the princess had arrived. But she needed the job, had a young son to support and no husband or family to help support him, and so she remained no matter how many hairbrushes Azula hurled at her, no matter how many times she'd left the room with charred skirts or bruised cheeks. She could handle a slap, that was for sure.

Still, she had her uses, and Azula was careful not to go around killing people at random, even stupid servants. Nothing put allies off like random servant-killing, she'd learned that the hard way. It was too bad; she'd kind of liked Lord Shizo. Too bad his threatening to leave and expose them had led to his own unfortunate death. Well, unfortunate for him. Great fun for Azula.

She still had other allies, but from now on intended to make sure she didn't alienate any of them. It was too bad; she hated having to depend on others, but until her Fire Bending was fully restored, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Once her clothes were removed and carefully folded, she dismissed the servant, not even bothering to scorch her sleeve or give her a hot foot. She was too excited by what she had in mind. She stepped into the top and sank down into the delicious warmth, imagining just how much fun she was about to have with her own personal Water Tribe peasant. Best of all, she wouldn't have to share him with his stupid girlfriend. Maybe, if he was good, she'd even let him sleep in a real bedroom instead of sending him back to the cellars.

A discreet knock at the door told her she was about to have company. "Come in!" she warbled, sinking even more luxuriously into the water. The foam from her bath salts covered the top of the water, revealing nothing, and besides, Han Zhi knew better than to look at her when she was bathing.

"As you requested, my lady," he said, bowing low. "The prisoner."

She grinned as he returned to his full height, reached behind him, and thrust Sokka into the room. His hands were tied behind him, and he was barefoot and wearing only a pair of loose shorts and a tunic that would easily come off when Azula wanted it to. "Come here," she crooned as the door closed behind him. Closed. Closed, and locked; Han Zhi knew his mistress well enough for her not to have to tell him to do that. Clever man. She'd have to reward him for his thoughtfulness someday.

He vanished from her thoughts as she regarded Sokka. "Join me," she said when he remained standing just in front of the door. "The door's locked, and if you don't, I'll have your girlfriend stripped naked and given to the off-duty guards to play with."

He paled at her words, grit his teeth, then stolidly made his way to the edge of the sunken tub. She reached up with one hand and patted the foamy water. "Inside," she ordered.

He started to step in, then gave a startled yelp as she lunged to her feet and shoved him backwards. He lost his balance and fell on his rump with a strangled curse. "Not in your clothes, you imbecile!" she snarled as she stood over him, naked and dripping. Flames licked around her clenched fists.

He kept a wary eye on her as he struggled back to his feet. "It's kind of hard to strip when your hands are tied," he said, half-turning away from her.

She recognized the calculating look in his eyes; he was actually going to try something! How fun! She aimed a low flame at his wrists, stifling a giggle as he winced at the pain. She didn't bother trying to keep the fire only on the ropes, wondering with a feeling of detached interest how loud he would yell when the pain got to be too much for him.

He kept his lips clamped tightly shut, and she felt a grudging sense of admiration for him. He was brave, she'd give him that much. Stupid, but brave.

He waited until the ropes had been almost completely charred away before he made his move. She gave him credit again; she'd have expected him to wait until she stepped back into the tub. And he didn't try to make a useless run for it; instead, he turned and grabbed her, attempting to wrestle her to the ground.

She let him, mostly because it was a lot of fun and she really wanted to kiss him again. Funny, she'd never wanted to do that before her world came crashing down around her, but any attempts at divining her motivations vanished as she came to the unpleasant realization that he was actually managing to pin her beneath him—and not with any intention of stripping down and joining her for a little horizontal fun.

With a sigh, she heated up her fisted hands and gave him just enough of a blast to force him up and off her. Even soaking wet and naked, a true Fire Bender such as herself was no match for some stupid sword-wielding peasant. Especially when he didn't have his sword. She smirked as he backed away, surreptitiously brushing at the flames still licking around the hem of his tunic. "Look, Azula, you know I can't do whatever it is you want me to, even if you threaten me. For guys, it just doesn't work that way."

She cocked her head to one side and considered his words. She gave a half-nod, as if in agreement, then lunged forward and threw her arms around his neck. "I'll bet your lips work just fine if I threaten to cut them off and feed them to the wolverine-pigs," she said brightly.

Then she kissed him, and his arms, which had gone automatically around her waist to steady them when she threw herself against him, tightened and moved into "shove you away" mode but of course she couldn't allow that so she bit his lip, just a little nip, and stopped the kiss long enough to whisper: "You keep those arms around me and you kiss me like you mean it, or I _will_ give your girlfriend to the guards, you bet your ass I will." Then she kissed him again and he actually managed to kiss her back like he meant it, but even though she was pressing her beautiful, naked, wet body against his he was right, damn him, there was no sign of the physical reaction she was seeking and after a moment she thrust him away from her and shouted for Han Zhi to come and take the stupid prisoner back to his stupid cell.

Sokka stared, wide-eyed, as Azula slipped back into the humongous tub and turned her back on him. His gaze darted around the room, looking for anything he might use as a weapon. He spotted the mirror and managed to grab it and slip it into the waistband of his trousers, smoothing his tunic over it just as the door opened and the bruiser who'd escorted him here poked his head in the room. Seeing his mistress blithely scrubbing away at her shoulders, he grabbed Sokka by the arm and pulled him out of the room before shutting the door quietly behind them.

"You wanna tell me why anyone sane would even _think_ about working for that nut job?" Sokka asked as he was marched at double-time speed down the hallway.

As expected, as he always did when Sokka asked him anything, the guard ignored him. Well, at least he knew the guys name now, thanks to Miss Crazy-In-The-Bathtub; Han Zhi. Whether that information would ever prove useful or not remained to be seen. A good strategist filed away any intel he gathered on the enemy, no matter how trivial.

Like their location. They were somewhere remote, somewhere in the northernmost reaches of the Fire Nation. When he and Suki had first been brought here six days ago, it had been pretty late in the evening, but the sun was still shining well above the horizon and the temperature was a lot cooler than it had been in the capital city. And now that he had a chance to see more than just the moldy cellar into which he and Suki had been kept since that day, he guessed it was a private residence of someone rich, a summer home or the place some politician stashed his mistress, something like that.

Information was power, and Sokka intended to take full advantage of his short-lived trip out of his cell to gather as much of it as he possibly could.

**The Palace – The Next Day**

It was incredible, it was unbelievable—almost too unbelievable, to Zuko's mind. One of the prisoners had actually been willing to make a deal in order to save his own worthless skin. He'd volunteered information regarding Azula's possible whereabouts within minutes of the start of his formal interrogation by Lord Iroh.

It had to be a trap. It _had_ to be, yet it was the only lead they had. Now, he just had to figure out a way to tell Katara so that she understood that fact as clearly as he did.

For once, he and Aang were in complete agreement as to how to handle the situation. He'd approached the Avatar and Toph first, in order to get their opinions.

"Of course it's a trap," Toph had sniffed. "The whole idea was probably to lure you and Sugar Queen out to the middle of nowhere and try and kill you. Suki and Sokka might have been hostages in case your crazy sister got caught trying to escape, sure, but it's just as likely that they were always gonna be used as bait."

Aang had agreed. "We need to be careful, but we can't just ignore this information, either." He'd frowned. "I just…we have to be really, really clear to Katara that we know it's a trap, that we can't just go running off to save them without a plan."

Not only had Aang's instincts toward how to present this information to Katara been in total agreement with Zuko's, he'd further surprised the young Fire Lord by his sober and mature take on the situation. Was this the same heartbroken Air Bender who'd impulsively chased after Mai in the heat of anger and hurt feelings only a short weeks ago?

Then again, ever since his return he'd been much quieter than before, with little of his normal exuberance showing. Bringing back a dead body couldn't have been how he envisioned the end of his quest, no matter what Katara's concerns when he left. Zuko had allowed himself to be swayed by her panic, in spite of his own reservations. Still, sending the others after Aang had at least let Toph, Sokka and Suki see for themselves where his head was at. None of them had batted an eye at Aang's grim story upon his return, and even Katara had taken him at his word. No one believed the Avatar to be a liar; if he'd killed Mai in the heat of battle, he'd have owned up to it and turned himself over for punishment.

All of which had nothing to do with anything right at the moment. The only people who might think ill of Aang were Mai's family, and frankly, Zuko couldn't care less what they thought about anything. Mai's father had always been a pompous windbag who obviously doted over his young son at his daughter's expense, and the less said about Mai's cold, demanding mother the better.

He was on his way to the training courtyard to tell Katara the news. The others had offered to come along when he told her, but he'd scowled and said he could handle it. "If I can run an entire kingdom, I think I can manage to find the most diplomatic way to tell Katara we finally got a lead—and that it might be a trap."

Aang had looked ready to protest, at least until an unsubtle elbow in the ribs from Toph had caused him to offer up a grunt of pain instead of whatever he'd been about to say when he opened his mouth.

And here was the door leading out to the courtyard. He paused, took a steadying breath, and opened it, staring in admiration as he saw Katara working her graceful way through a series of Water Bending exercises. She was concentrating so hard that it wasn't until he'd deliberately slammed the door behind him and started clomping as noisily as possible against the stone courtyard that she finally noticed him.

The water she'd been waving about in arcs and curves immediately splashed to the ground as she hurried to meet him. "There's news?" she demanded before he could even open his mouth to speak. "What is it? Did you find them?"

He took her hands and led her over to the nearest stone bench, insisting she sit and promise to listen to the whole story before she said anything. She scowled as fiercely as he ever had, then gave a reluctant nod and pressed her lips tightly together as he told her what they'd learned.

"According to the prisoner, she's holed up in a hunting lodge north of here. He didn't know the name of the nobleman who owned it, but that's not surprising," he concluded.

"Especially if it's a trap," Katara agreed. Her tone was even but her body was thrumming with tension; Zuko could tell it was all she could do not to jump to her feet and race out of the palace in search of her brother and friend. "I mean, that would be a little too convenient, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, it would," Zuko agreed, pleased that she immediately caught on to the fact that this confession might not be without a hidden barb. "I'm guessing we're supposed to go racing off to save our friends…"

"…and fall right into whatever trap Azula has set for us," Katara agreed without missing a beat.

"She never did have a high opinion of my ability to strategize," Zuko confessed. "Frankly, on her worst day she could think rings around me, but that was when she was still sane. Now, I'm guessing someone else is pulling the strings. We just have to figure out who, and not just to save your brother and Suki."

"To save the kingdom," Katara concluded, once again surprising him with her perspicacity. He pulled her into his arms in a sudden embrace, fiercely proud of the woman he'd chosen to spend the rest of his life with. He felt her push against his chest and reluctantly eased back on his hold, to see her smiling up at him. She hit him lightly on the shoulder. "What, you didn't think I could figure it out by myself?" She leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips, still smiling.

She was teasing him, thank Agni, not angry at him for underestimating her. "I know you're upset about your brother," he said diplomatically. "I'm just glad you get how important it is for us to tread carefully…"

"Oh, I'm not planning to tread carefully," Katara retorted, rising to her feet and glaring down at him. In spite of her cloudy expression, her voice remained tundra-cold. "I'm planning to go running straight into whatever trap it is Azula's set, and then I plan to freeze her ass in an iceberg for the next hundred years. You guys can come along after and pick up whatever scraps I leave behind."

Then she stalked off, leaving Zuko to stare after her retreating form, stunned and confused. "What the heck just happened?" he asked aloud after Katara finally vanished through the door to the palace.

"I'd say you just got told to take caution and stick it where the sun don't shine," a voice piped up from behind him, and he whirled to see Toph sitting on top the wall, swinging her legs and resting both hands on the stone surface. "I really do have to find Sugar Queen a new nickname," she adding musingly.

"Me too," Zuko muttered as he rose to his feet, not even bothering to chastise Toph for listening in on what was supposed to be a private conversation. "I just don't want to have to carve it on her headstone." Then he, too, headed back into the palace to try and talk some sense into his betrothed.

Who had managed in that short period of time to take her two guards, commandeer a small airship, and head north.

With a sigh at the inevitable, Zuko grimly set about preparing his own troops after sending Toph and Aang ahead on Appa to try and catch her up.

As he reached the privacy of his own rooms and started throwing together a pack, he couldn't help grinning to himself. Katara had always been headstrong, he'd known that; what made him think she'd just knuckle under and do things his way just because they were engaged to be married? Or just because he was the Fire Lord? Or just because he asked her to? She was infuriating, she was impulsive and stubborn and aggravating…she was the woman he loved and he wouldn't have her any other way.

* * *

_A/N: Believe it or not, this story is actually starting to wind down. As in, there will be at least four or five more chapters, but certainly not another nineteen! I kinda thought it was going to be a lot shorter when I first started writing it, but then Mai wents nutso and Azula insisted that she should be in it and here we are, Chapter Nineteen! Hope everyone is still enjoying the ride. Thanks for all the lovely reviews, they are always ALWAYS appreciated by us writers._


	20. Unexpected Kiss

**Part Twenty: Unexpected Kiss **

"So what did Her Craziness want?"

Sokka hesitated to tell Suki what had transpired between him and the princess, but knew if he tried to hide it she'd get it out of him eventually—and be mad at him for not telling her straight up. Of course, she wouldn't be happy to hear the truth, either, but at least he could be honest as to how little Azula had managed to affect him in her seduction efforts.

Or at least, how little he'd _pretended_ to be affected. She really was some kind of kisser, and having her literally press her entire naked body against his…it hadn't been easy to tamp down on his body's natural response to such a situation, but he'd done it. "She tried to get me to sleep with her," he finally said, opting for bluntness rather than any dancing around the subject. "I convinced her you couldn't force a guy to do that sort of thing so she kicked me out. But I did find out a few things about our prison," he added hastily, hoping to avoid any kind of blow-up on Suki's part.

No such luck. Even in the semi-gloom of their cell he could see the way her eyes had narrowed and her fists were clenching. "I will kill that crazy bitch myself," she snarled. "Bad enough she kissed you like that on the airship, but to actually think she could get you to sleep with her…"

"I might, um, actually have to," Sokka mumbled. Here was the really hard part. "Or at least, pretend to. It might be the only way to get us out of here."

Suki had gone still with shock; he could feel her staring at him. And when she actually raised a fist and punched him on the side of the head, he didn't bother to duck. She was a better hand-to-hand combat fighter than he was, and if he didn't allow her that first hit, she'd keep going after him. "You-you-are you _nuts_?" she shouted as she raised her fist for a second punch.

He grabbed it this time, twisted it behind her back—she really wasn't thinking clearly, nor could he blame her. He'd kind of sprung this whole thing on her, but it had kind of sprung itself into his own mind, and he'd just blurted it out without thinking. His bad. "Suki, listen, I know it sucks, but just listen before you go off on me. You think I _want_ to sleep with that psycho?"

She wrenched her arm free of his grasp. "Of course not," she huffed. "I just don't see…"

"Then let me explain," Sokka said quickly, before she could build up another head of steam and start in on him again.

When he finished, Suki was nodding thoughtfully, although her voice was still sullen as she said: "Yeah, I can see how that would work. The only problem is, you're thinking of Azula like she's predictable. She's not, you know that, right?"

"Yeah," Sokka agreed ruefully. "But still, we've been here a week, Suki, we have to face facts; we might have to get ourselves out of this. And this might be our only shot. Plus," he felt constrained to add, "we don't even know if she'll call for me again. So this could have been just an exercise in pointlessness."

"No plan is ever an exercise in pointlessness," Suki immediately replied, reaching for Sokka and taking him into her arms. He exhaled a silent sigh of relief; she wasn't still mad at him. Thank the Spirits. "If nothing else, it keeps your brain sharp. Since we don't exactly have any other tools at our disposal, we need to make sure to use the ones we do have." She pressed a soft kiss to his lips and snuggled herself more comfortably into his embrace. "So. If she doesn't call for you, maybe you should call for her, next time one of the guards shows up to throw what they call 'food' at us," she added with a grumble. "Meanwhile, tell me what you found out about this place while you were out."

**oOo**

"The Water Tribe prisoner has asked to speak to you, Princess Azula."

She turned in surprise, both at the fact that Sokka had done such an audacious thing, and at the fact that Han Zhi had agreed to bring her the message. She'd given him no such instructions, either him or the guards on duty in the musty cellars of this isolated heap of stone. "Really? How odd," was all she replied, then turned her back on him dismissively. She heard him withdraw from the parlor where she'd been spending the afternoon trying to read, discarding scroll after scroll when nothing caught her interest.

Well, well, well. So Sokka wanted to speak to her. Interesting, even if she'd given no sign to Han Zhi that she felt that way. She glanced up at the shrouded mirror that hung over the massive fireplace. Really, her courtiers and allies knew how to spend money, didn't they? Hanging expensive mirrors all over the place, even in rooms that didn't really need them. She'd ordered each and every one of them covered as soon as she realized her ally had such a peculiar quirk. She was quite proud of herself for curbing her initial instinct, which was to go around smashing them all as she had the one in her bedroom. Still, her mother managed to appear even if the glass was crazed and cracked.

As crazed and cracked as everyone thought she was, but she was getting better, she was, she could feel it. The Mind Healer had started her down the path to regaining not only her mind but her power and she held onto the smallest signs of sanity in herself with both hands and every cell her brain could spare…and yet she still feared the mirrors. If she pulled the cover down, would her mother be there, trying to advise her against the path she'd placed herself on? Why was that woman so judgemental, even in death? It just wasn't fair, not fair at all, Daddy would agree if he were here.

She felt her mind traveling down well-worn paths, the paths to madness, and forcibly stopped herself before she sank into the maze of her own mind and couldn't grope her way free again. So, Water Boy wanted to speak to her. Maybe she'd affected him after all…but no. More likely, she thought in a flash of clarity she hadn't felt in a long, long time, he wanted to bargain for his girlfriend's life. After all, she, Azula, Princess of the Blood, her father's chosen successor as Fire Lord, had indicated more than once that she only needed one hostage. "One," she whispered, holding up a finger to the covered mirror. In case mommy dearest was watching through the white fabric to see if her daughter could still count.

She rose to her feet, allowing the pile of scrolls she'd amassed to fall to the floor in an untidy heap. Let the servants clean them up, that was why she had them, after all. She moved with stately grace toward the door Han Zhi had so recently occupied.

She'd just take a little stroll down to the cellars and see what was up.

**Elsewhere**

Katara knew she only had at most a few minutes start before Zuko came after her. Not that she cared; him coming after her was him not just sitting around the palace trying to out-think someone he'd never been able to out-think in the past. Even crazy his sister was a schemer, and whoever was helping her seemed to be doing a great job of staying invisible as well as staying two steps ahead of everyone.

So she was flying into a trap. So be it.

The only thing she regretted was how she'd had to take matters into her own hands to get Zuko to stop sitting on his. Oh, he probably thought he was doing the right thing, but Katara's gut told her otherwise. If they ever wanted to see her brother and Suki again, they had to stop waiting and start moving.

It was time to remind Azula of exactly what a pissed-off Water Bender could do.

**oOo**

"Wow, Sweetness must be really pissed off to leave us in the dust like this."

The comment came from Toph. Of course. Who else would cheerfully rub salt in the wounds? Zuko ground his teeth together and tried not to picture himself strangling the young Earth Bender into silence. _Young Earth Bending_ Master, he silently corrected himself. Not to mention Metal Bender. So the fact that they were thousands of feet above the ground, flying through the air in a wild race to catch up to Katara, meant that Toph could probably still kick his ass. With one hand tied behind her back.

From the low chuckle he heard from behind him, she'd followed every beat of his heart and most likely accurately divined his thoughts. Brat.

He'd managed to located Appa, Aang and Toph a few hours earlier, but unfortunately no one had caught sight of Katara. Her commandeered airship had been found, tethered to a large tree and with a very disgruntled pilot gagged and bound so he couldn't report their whereabouts, giving Katara yet another head start in this mad dash.

Aang was flying alongside them, sometimes riding on Appa's back, sometimes soaring with his glider over and around the small convoy, disconcerting the pilots. Zuko had quickly stopped their grumbled complaints by snapping out: "Suppose we face an enemy who can do the same someday, or become allies with a renewed Air Nomad tribe. We'll need to be able to maneuver around them at that point. Consider this a training exercise."

Even distractions like that couldn't keep his mind off Katara for long. He ground his teeth again, not caring if Toph heard him or not. It was just like her to do something so impulsive, and even if he loved that part of her, sometimes it could be a real pain in the butt. Times like now, for instance, when it was obvious they were flying right into a trap.

Of course, knowing it was a trap meant making plans of their own. Like sending Katara's kidnapped-at-Blood-Bending-Point (was that even a legitimate saying?) pilot back with a message for the rest of the hastily-assembled fleet of airships and soldiers, having them hang back and wait for Appa to bring them to the rendezvous point at least a half-hour after Zuko and his small group arrived. It meant possibly losing the speed and manpower advantage, but committing all your troops at once in what could be a hopeless cause made even less sense.

At least, he hoped it did. Right now there were about twenty soldiers at his command, as well as the not-inconsiderable talents of Toph and, oh yeah, the Avatar. The one who'd proven his ability in battle even while maintaining his ethical stance against taking life. If he could get his hands on Azula, he'd remove whatever Fire Bending she'd managed to recover, and that would be that. Easy. Get in, get Azula and free the hostages, get out.

He snorted. Yeah, easy. Simple.

What could possibly go wrong?

**oOo**

"So, I hear you want to talk to me."

The heavy metal door had been wrenched open without warning, and the sight of Azula leaning casually against the frame was enough to send chills down Sokka's spine. Still, a plan was a plan, and although this one sucked for him personally, it was a good one. It would work.

It had to.

He rose slowly to his feet, watching through wary eyes as Azula continued to stand where she was, looking as bored as Mai ever had. "Yeah, I just wanted to ask you something. Make a deal."

As planned, Suki narrowed her eyes and jumped to her feet, fists balled at her side as she glared first at Sokka and then at Azula. "Sokka, no!" she exclaimed. "I won't let you do this, I'm not worth it…"

He turned and placed a hand on her arm, gazing deeply into her eyes and saying with as much sincerity as he could muster: "Suki, I love you. You're worth everything to me." He gulped and added dramatically: "Even my honor."

Azula seemed amused; she dropped the façade of boredom and was looking at them both through avaricious eyes. "Let me guess," she finally said, swaggering into the small cell and stopping only a few feet away from the seemingly-quarreling lovers. "You'll do what I want if I let your girlfriend go."

Sokka swallowed, hard, and nodded. "Yeah."

"Anything I want?" Azula pressed, eyes glittering with malicious enjoyment.

Sokka felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that his brilliant plan was about to go south. "Anything," he repeated stoutly, over Suki's suddenly no longer false protests. She, too, had sensed that this confrontation was slipping out of their control.

"Prove it." Yup, Azula wasn't about to just let Suki go. Not without a fight.

Not without a kiss.

He should have seen it coming, should have expected her reaction. Azula never allowed anyone to have the upper hand for long, not when there was still a shred of sanity rattling around in her brain. And right now that shred appeared to have lodged itself in place at exactly the wrong time.

"All right." Suki sucked in a breath as Sokka moved closer to Azula, gritting her teeth as he took the other girl into his arms and kissed her.

A real kiss, a deep kiss, tongues and all. And all she could do was grit her teeth and take it; if she attacked the bitch, she'd probably find herself with a face full of fire, if the guards hovering discreetly just outside the half-opened door didn't kill her.

Judging by Azula's flushed face and breathless reaction when the kiss ended, Sokka had planted a good one on her.

"Well," Azula said after a moment. "All right, then." She turned abruptly and snapped her fingers at the guards. "Escort us to my bedchamber." She turned to offer Suki a syrupy sweet smile over her shoulder. "If your boyfriend is as good in bed as he is at kissing, I'll think about letting you go." The smile vanished as she added in a cold voice: "And if he isn't, then I'll make good on my promise to him and give you to my guards, then burn you."

Suki forced herself not to flinch; Azula meant every word. And she'd just turned her boyfriend over to the psycho.

Great.

* * *

_A/N: I know, people are going to say: But Sokka just escaped Azula's Evil Clutches in the previous chapter, why are you repeating yourself? Trust me, there will be payoff in the next chapter. Just not necessarily the payoff Azula is expecting. Merry Christmas to my readers who celebrate the holiday! Next chapter probably won't be until January._


	21. Kiss Me, Stupid

**Part Twenty-One: Kiss Me, Stupid**

Katara hummed softly to herself as she made her preparations. Water pouch on her belt; check. Water held in a complex spiral around her waist and chest and cascading down her arms; check.

Steely determination to take Azula down and free her brother and Suki; double check.

She was hidden in what seemed to be an unused outbuilding on the sprawling grounds of the overly-ostentatious mansion hidden away in the middle of the forest. She was confident that Zuko and the others were hard on her heels, but wasn't going to wait for them before making her move. Suki and Sokka were being held in the main building, probably underground from what little she'd managed to overhear while skulking around the guard post.

The guards were either disgustingly lax or had been told to act as if they were. Probably the latter if this was the trap it seemed to be. Either way, she was confident she'd be able to slip inside the building without being seen, one person alone rather than the larger force they were surely expecting.

As soon as the shadows started to grow, the sun to set, she would make her move.

**oOo**

She would make her move as soon as she could. There was no way she was going to leave Sokka in the hands of that she-wolverine-pig any longer than she had to.

With that thought, Suki surreptitiously examined the hand mirror Sokka has slipped her before bravely marching off to the proverbial fate worse than death with Princess Nut-Job. She ground her teeth, forcing herself not to think about what might be happening right now. She had to focus on the fact that, as hoped, Sokka was once again free of their prison, with access to Azula.

And she, Suki, War Leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, had exactly one weapon to make use of. A mirror. Polished glass in a heavy bronze frame. She hefted it behind her back, just in case one of the guards decided to look in on her as they liked to randomly do. It was solid, heavy, good quality. Even once she broke the glass out she could still use the frame as a weapon, bringing her arsenal to two.

She turned and leaned her back against the wall so that her side was presented to the door. If anyone opened it, her body should hide what she was doing.

First, something to keep the glass from flying all over the place; the pillow from their pitiful excuse for a bed. She examined the broken-down cot with a clinical eye; the legs were rickety and splintery and could be broken off to use as cudgels if need be. Three weapons.

Suki raised her fist, gauging the amount of force she'd need to use to break the mirror without shattering it into useless shards. Then, taking a deep breath, she smashed it downward, hitting the flimsy pillow and the face-down mirror it covered.

She heard a satisfying "crack" that told her she'd achieved her goal, but waited a few minutes before removing the pillow, shaking it carefully and placing it behind her back to camouflage the use to which she'd put it. Then she turned the mirror over; good. Three large, jagged pieces of glass where there had once been a smooth oval. She smiled and prized the first piece loose, concealing it in her sleeve. The other two pieces she carefully wrapped in fabric torn from her under tunic and tucked into the small pouch hidden by her left hip. The bronze frame she pressed into the waistband of her trousers at the small of her back. The hook used to hang it up on a wall settled easily onto her belt.

Ah, her belt. A fourth weapon. She debated loosening it or even removing it, then decided against it. It was holding too many other items in place.

Including, most importantly, her trousers.

Once she had everything arranged to her satisfaction, she returned the pillow to the bed and took her place next to it, leaning one arm casually against the edge as she studied the legs for weaknesses. Breaking even one of them off would make a lot of noise, so she'd have to wait until she'd managed to incapacitate her guards before making a club. Of course, once she'd done that, she should have a real knife and sword to use, but it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.

She settled in to wait, stemming her impatience through years of practice. When the time was right, the warrior would strike.

**oOo**

Zuko was fuming, and it was all Katara's fault. He'd been riding an emotional landslide since she'd run off, up one minute, down the next, but all heading inexorably downhill.

Just as this mission seemed to be doing. One long, downhill slide to yet another confrontation with his sister. This time, he knew he had the upper hand both when it came to Fire Bending and general sanity, but still. It seemed like all he ever did was fight with his sister, and he was tired of it. All he wanted to do was make peace with the world, get the Fire Nation off of a war footing and into a healthy economy, marry Katara, and live happily ever after. Was that too much to ask?

"Is that too much to ask?" He asked the question aloud, instantly regretting it as he heard a disdainful snort from behind him.

"Whatever it is you're asking, I'm betting it _is_ too much, Sparky." That was Toph, of course, ever ready to squash whatever grandiose dreams he might have with her practical nature. Maybe it was just her nature, but he suspected it was because she still resented the fact that he'd never gone on a life-altering journey with her, as she put it. "Lemme guess, you want world peace and happy-ever-after for you and Sugar Queen, am I right?"

"Get out of my head," Zuko snapped in response, a bit unnerved at how accurately Toph had read him.

"Gladly, it's not exactly my favorite place to be," she retorted. "But you need to get out of your head, too, if all you're doing is brooding. That's not exactly gonna help us get Sokka and Fan Girl back."

"I know. Believe me, I know," he replied glumly, dropping his chin into his hands and gazing unseeingly at the maps spread out on the table where he'd plopped his elbows.

Toph dropped into the chair opposite his and took up an identical pose. Show-off. "So. What's the plan?"

"Besides swooping in with our superior air power, hoping to catch them off-guard and fight our way into a fortified house to rescue Suki and Sokka?" Zuko shook his head. "I'm still stuck on our final strategy. Especially since we all know damn well we're waltzing into a trap."

"But you have a few ideas, right?" Toph asked. "I mean, we're not really just going to do all that swooping in and fighting our way through the guards, are we?"

Zuko wasn't surprised to hear the barely repressed excitement in Toph's voice as she asked the question. She was hoping that was exactly how they were going to do it, bloodthirsty little brat, he thought with a sudden burst of affection. "No, you know I'm not," he grumbled, but could tell by her grin that she already knew he wasn't upset with her. "I'm about to summon the generals and Aang so we can finalize our plans. Then you can get to stomping some butt once we're on the ground. And yes, your Earth Bending and especially your Metal Bending are a big part of my strategy."

Toph's grin widened as Zuko rose to his feet to make the call.

It was time to put his plans, however shaky, into words and from there into action.

He just hoped Katara hadn't gotten herself into trouble already.

**oOo**

Katara could hardly contain her glee. She'd been hiding in the undergrowth, wishing she could Water Bend the pesky insect life away from her bare arms and legs and neck when she heard the sound of voices nearby. She immediately dropped to the ground, making herself as flat and invisible as possible, but the voices stopped just far enough away for her to cautiously optimistic that they hadn't seen her.

It was a group of women, female servants, apparently out gathering berries. She heard one of them make a disparaging remark about how little "Her High and Mightiness" would appreciate their efforts to bring her fresh food, only to be hushed by another, more nervous sounding voice.

The point was, there were a lot of women outside gathering these berries, which Azula had apparently developed a sudden craving for. So it wasn't just the housemaids or the kitchen staff, it was every woman able to grab a basket and battle her way through the overgrowth to reach the berry patches scattered across the length and breadth of the immediate acreage. It was late in the season for them, so they were hard pressed to find enough to satisfy Azula's demands.

_I guess the crazy hasn't been entirely cured,_ Katara thought as she waited for the women to leave. She felt a surge of anger at how callously Azula had killed Zhiana, when all the Mind Healer wanted to do was help, but tamped it down. Better to save that anger for when she was actually confronting the mad dog herself.

Once she was alone again, she squirmed out of concealment, brushing as much of the dirt and dead leaves from her as she could, the plan she'd formulated solidifying in her mind. Then she hurried off to see if the patch of berries she'd passed was still there. If it was, she would put her plan in motion and maybe, just maybe, get into the mansion without anyone noticing.

**oOo**

Aang heard the announcement calling Zuko's generals and admirals and his own self to a strategy meeting and cringed a bit. He was the worst strategist of the group, but he needed to be there. It had been nothing but crisis after crisis since Zuko's coronation, and he'd done a great job at handling everything.

Including Aang's own childish reaction to his upgraded relationship with Katara. He winced at the memory of lashing out and actually punching the Fire Lord, although it still gave him a sneaking sense of satisfaction knowing that he'd staggered the larger, older boy—no, no longer a boy, a man. Still, he was supposed to be bringing peace to the world, not punching out the leader of the Fire Nation—the one leader they'd had in over a hundred years who's goal was peace rather than war.

He knew Zuko didn't blame him for his reaction, that he felt guilty about how Aang had found out, but as Toph has pointed out over and over again, neither Sparky nor Sugar Queen (her names, not his), had planned anything or deliberately gone behind his back. In fact, they'd shown a great deal of restraint in not (again, her words not his) "immediately sucking face every chance they could get if they were as into each other as she, personally, could tell they were".

Crazy in love, was how Aang characterized it. And he knew they didn't mean to hurt him, but that's how he felt. Which was why he'd been so hesitant to bring Mai in once he had her, because she was the only other person who knew exactly how he felt, even if he would never have gone so far as to actually try and kill Zuko the way she had.

He shuddered at the thought. No, no matter how mixed up he felt about Zuko and Katara being together and (ugh!) eventually getting married, deep down inside he knew there was nothing he could do about it except either nurse a permanent grudge and lose two good friends, or try and find a way to let it go.

Either way, he realized as he heard the announcement calling for everyone to gather in Zuko's war room, he was wasting time on the past and might-have-beens instead of focusing on the current situation. He rose to his feet and sprinted down the hall to join the meeting. He might not be much of a strategist, but he was the Avatar, and that alone was worth him being there.

Besides, Katara was counting on him—er, on them all, to help her rescue her brother and Suki.

He wouldn't disappoint her.

**oOo**

Katara waited until the last of the women and girls straggled in from their berry-picking mission, then hurried up to add herself to the end of the line. She'd put together a clumsy basket of her own, just made of some lengths of leaves and grass, but strong enough to hold the handful of berries she'd plucked to finish off her disguise.

Aside from that, nothing else was necessary except that she kept her head bowed and eyes on her feet the way the others were. She'd been stunned to see that not only was the group made up of Fire Nation females, but Earth Kingdom and even a few Water Tribe girls. The Spirits didn't hand out lucky breaks like that very often, and she certainly wasn't going to spit in Their faces by ignoring this one.

She held her breath as she passed the first guard, but he barely even gave her glance, and when he did, it was to leer appreciatively at her breasts, bringing a flush to Katara's cheeks. How dare he! But then, she was nothing but a lowly serving woman, probably not much better than a slave, and to show her resentment would either bring punishment or recognition that she wasn't who she was pretending to be. So she simply averted her eyes and hurried past him, ignoring his wolfish whistle and the surreptitious pat her gave her rump in passing.

Ugh. She forced herself not to shudder and then she was safely inside. Well, safely was a relative term, of course, but still. She was past the first barrier. Now all she had to do was find Suki and Sokka, get them outside without anyone noticing or raising the alarm, and find a safe place to hide in the forest while they figured out where to go from there.

Because in all the planning Katara had done to get to this point, figuring out how to get safely back to the capital wasn't something she'd ever been able to manage to do.

**Sometime Later**

Sokka paced uneasily back and forth, casting longing glances at the nice, big, wide open windows the bedroom he'd been stuck in boasted. There were even vines growing near one of them, close to the long, metal drain that he deduced was use to sluice water from the roof into a barrel on the ground, two stories below him. He could be out those windows and deep in the forest if it wasn't for the fact that Suki was depending on him to get her out of this mess.

All he had to do was sleep with a crazy woman. And hope she kept her word when they were finished and let Suki go.

This was the best plan he could come up with, and he was supposed to be the strategic genius.

Joy.

The sound of the door opening made him start and spin around to face the opening. He could feel the sweat on his forehead and wiped it away with the back of his hand, but could do nothing about the sudden pounding of his heart and the panicked thoughts racing through his mind: _Oh Spirits, oh Gods, I can't do this, I can't, and if I don't then Azula will give Suki to the guards and it'll be all my fault and how can that crazy woman expect me to be able to have sex with her with all this pressure and…_

His thoughts stopped abruptly as he recognized the figure standing in the doorway, impossible though it was. "K-katara?" he stammered, moving closer.

She turned to look at him impatiently, pressing one finger to her lips in a shushing motion. Sokka clamped his mouth tightly shut, still not sure this was real. How could Katara have found them, how could she be here and not a prisoner? It was crazy, but then, maybe crazy was how you had to deal with a crazy woman. So maybe he was the crazy one now…

Before his thoughts could spin off toward panic again, Katara gestured him toward her, still scanning the hall as he hurried to join her.

"Where's Suki?" she whispered as he reached her side. She pulled the door shut behind them and took his hand as they headed for the end of the hall and the servant's staircase hidden behind a decorative tapestry. Night had fallen and most of the servants would be in bed, so it was a good choice.

Before Sokka could answer his sister's question, a voice came from behind that tapestry. "Right here." Then it was pushed aside and Suki stood right there in front of them, armed with a couple of wicked looking daggers and brandishing a sword.

Sokka barely restrained a whoop of joy as he rushed forward and pulled Suki into his arms. "How'd you get out?" he asked as she smiled up at him.

"Just kiss her, stupid, and ask questions later," Katara snapped. "We need to get out of here right now before Princess Crazy comes to and realizes you're missing."

Sokka gaped at Katara, then down at Suki, who merely widened her smile before pulling his head down for a brief kiss. "Your sister's right, we need to get out of here," she said, all business as she handed Sokka the sword and raised an eyebrow inquisitively and jerking her head at one of her many daggers.

Katara shook her head and hefted the bulging water skin that hung by her side. "Let's go," she said briefly, and they made their stealthy way down the stairs Suki had just climbed while in search of her missing boyfriend.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry, I know it's taken me a long time but we all get writer's block and sometimes it's more of the Hoover Dam than a beaver dam, if you know what I mean. Fortunately I know where I'm going from here on in, although it may take me a few more chapters than I originally estimated. If you like, please remember to leave a review...and if you do, I might be persuaded to offer up a preview of my next Zutara story (yes, I've resorted to bribery). :)_


	22. Miss Your Kiss

**Part Twenty-Two: Miss Your Kiss**

Knowing that it was likely to happen and having it actually happen didn't make it any better when they emerged from the staircase to find a coterie of guards waiting for them, with Azula sneering triumphantly at their head. "Nice try," she said as, one by one, Katara first, the three fugitives made their silent way into the kitchen.

They stood, arrayed in front of the knot of Fire Benders and regular soldiers well armed with wicked looking swords and daggers, watching warily as Azula sauntered forward to stand directly in front of them.

She studied them in turn, the Water Bender, the Kyoshi Island Warrior…and him. The stupid Water Tribe peasant who was such a pleasure to kiss and whom she'd been looking forward to sleeping with. "You first," she said, pointing at him. Flames burst from her fingertip and danced there. She stared at them for a moment, entranced, then stepped back and motioned her guards forward. "Hold them," she snapped.

Katara moved into a Water Bending stance, but the flame Azula had been staring at suddenly leapt from her finger to Katara's water pouch, forcing her to fling it away from her body with a cry of dismay. Before she could snake the water out of it she'd been grabbed by one of the dagger-wielding guards. He twisted one arm behind her back and held his blade to her throat, effectively ending her thrashing. It was then that she saw with a sinking heart that Suki had been similarly restrained, and that Sokka now knelt on the floor in front of Azula, under no restraint other than the imminent threat to his sister and the woman he loved.

It was all Azula needed, and she knew it, Katara could practically feel the triumph oozing from the crazy girl's pores.

"Sokka, Sokka, you stupid, stupid boy," she was crooning as she paced back and forth in front of her kneeling prisoner. "I really would have let your girlfriend go if you'd just gone through with it. Now…" she shrugged and stopped directly in front of him, her hand once again blazing with fire. "Now I just have to kill you and give her to the guards like I told you I would. Especially since your sister was considerate enough to offer herself up as my hostage." The hand that wasn't covered in fire was shoved in front of his face, pointer finger raised to the sky. "Come on, Sokka, how many hostages do I need?"

He kept his lips resolutely sealed, at least until Azula jerked her head toward his sister. He heard a choked back curse and turned his head to see the dagger at her throat had dug in a little, just enough to draw blood. He swallowed and turned back to face their tormenter. "One," he spat out. "You just need one."

Azula nodded, smiling as if he were a favorite student who'd just aced another test. "Yep! Just one! Which means you and your girlfriend are expendable. So…" she glanced over her shoulder at the soldiers surrounding her. When she'd casually mentioned giving Suki to them, several of them had glanced at one another with predatory smiles, while others had seemed uneasy, at least to Sokka's eyes. "Who gets off duty first? Hmm? And who deserves first crack at the woman who killed two of your mates when she escaped?"

That did it; any sympathy or at least unease with the situation vanished at that revelation. Suki was in serious trouble now. So was he, for that matter, but somehow the idea of dying seemed a lot easier to take than the thought that Azula was actually going to give Suki to her men for their pleasure. "Hey, we don't have to do it this way," he said, catching Azula's attention again. He tried smiling up at her. "I give my word, even if an army of Waterbenders shows up to rescue us, I'll stay with you for as long as you want. If," he stressed, watching her closely, "you just put my sister and Suki in cells. You know, in case you actually do end up needing three hostages."

Azula stared down at him, her expression unreadable. Then she reached out with the flaming hand, the fires she'd maintained throughout this entire ordeal crackling with heat as she reached toward his face, stopping at the last minute and instead snatching his sister's wrist. He heard Katara cry out, then launched himself at Azula before she could do more harm. "Stop it! Let them go!"

Suki took immediate advantage of the confusion Sokka's unexpected attack caused by dropping her elbow into her guard's midsection, sacrificing a few inches of skin when his sword cut into her neck, but not deeply enough to cause permanent damage. At least, she hoped not. She was too busy wrestling said sword away from him after that to pay attention to how much blood was flowing from her wound.

Katara had made an abortive move to join the fray, but the combination of her injured wrist and the knife at her own throat kept her right where she was, in the tight hold of the Fire Nation guard who'd already cut her at Azula's command. At least he hadn't decided to finish the job, apparently content to wait and see how it would all shake out before acting.

The most she could do was watch helplessly as Suki finally managed to knock her own guard out and get control of his sword; as Sokka wrestled Azula to the ground, both wreathed in flames she could put out if she only had access to water; as the other soldiers broke ranks in order to deal with both threats with dismaying enthusiasm.

It was eerily silent, which made the sudden, strangled sound the guard holding her made all the more startling when his breath rattled her ear. Then the hold on her vanished as he collapsed to the floor. Suki had stabbed him, and although he'd tightened his grip on his dagger reflexively, it was too little too late; Katara was free, Suki was free, and it was time to kick some traitorous Fire Nation butt.

The two soldiers who'd restrained Suki and herself were down, both dead; Katara felt the bile rise in her throat but forced it down as she concentrated on ducking under the blade of the first soldier to reach them, throwing herself to the floor in a desperate attempt to grab her water skin.

The close quarters of the kitchen helped; not all of the guards could reach them easily, not with the huge table in the middle of the room blocking off the possibility of a frontal assault, at least not by anyone but the Firebenders. One side was similarly blocked by the still-struggling forms of Azula and Sokka and the flames that were threatening to engulf them both; once Katara had her water she wasted no time in dousing the two of them, then calling whatever water wasn't lost to steam back to use as ice daggers against the two Firebenders at the far end of the table.

Suki had already launched herself at the three remaining guards, the ones who had only conventional weapons, but Katara knew it was still a lost cause. Sokka appeared to be badly burned, but he grimly held onto Azula, keeping her out of the fight while she thrashed and screamed at him to let her go.

It was only a matter of time before the other guards were alerted to the struggle in the kitchen and joined their comrades in subduing the prisoners.

Subduing, or killing them; Azula was screaming for their heads while Sokka knelt above her supine form, forcing her face-down on the stone floor with her hands held tightly behind her back. Every time he felt them warming up, preparatory to blasting him, he slapped the side of her head to break her concentration, trying really, really hard not to enjoy himself as he did so. Torturing helpless (at least, mostly helpless) prisoners was what Azula and her type did; not what he, an honorable Water Tribe warrior, did. Still, he couldn't help enjoying himself every time she failed to burn him with more than the glare from the one eye he could see.

Even as one of Katara's ice daggers found its target, pinning the Firebender's hand to the table, Suki went down in a flurry of arms and legs as one of the soldiers got the better of her. Katara dove under the table to avoid the next fireball, trying to make her way to her friend's side but stymied by the heavy wooden brace that held the table ends in place; the spaces above and below were too narrow to navigate. She'd have to come back out, but was determined not to emerge where anyone would expect her to…she squirmed her way down toward the uninjured Firebender, determined to sell herself dearly if only to ensure her brother's escape.

As soon as she jumped up, ready to attack, she was tackled from behind. One of the soldiers had left the melee behind her and snuck up on her. She fell to the floor with a shout of pain, then blacked out completely as her head hit the floor with enough force to rebound and thud back down a second time.

**oOo**

Sokka shouted with anger as his sister went down; he still couldn't see what had happened to Suki, and decided enough was enough. "Everybody drop your weapons or Azula dies!" he shouted, pressing his knee more firmly into his prisoner's back.

No one listened to him, but it wasn't necessarily because they were ignoring him. More likely it was because they were too busy either welcoming reinforcements, who chose that moment to storm the kitchen door, or ducking fireballs from the kitchen garden entrance, which was where Zuko and his soldiers were rushing into the room.

Things got very confusing after that, so Sokka wisely decided to just focus on keeping Azula from escaping his grasp, which she was very determined to do. When he had her pinned more firmly beneath him and her hands away from sensitive areas of his anatomy where she'd been trying to singe him on the sly, he leaned down to whisper in her ear, a taunt he simply couldn't resist offering: "Well, you wanted me to get you horizontal, how's this? Doing it for you?"

She let go with some very inventive curses; he thought sailors knew how to make someone blush but they had nothing on Azula. He grinned and stashed away some of the better ones in his memory, the better to impress his Dad's men the next time he saw them, but the grin quickly turned to a yelp of protest as he felt her hands heating up beneath his legs again; he'd shifted position just enough to give her the chance. "No way, Princess," he said as he shifted himself again, then let loose with another yelp as a fireball flew past his ear; if he hadn't leaned forward at just the right moment, his hair would now be on fire.

Instinct caused him to drop flat, right on top of his captive, who grunted with annoyance or pain or, for all he knew, even interest at finally getting him to lie down on top of her, but Sokka was too busy concentrating on not getting killed to care. The battle was just heating up, no pun intended, now that reinforcements had arrived for both sides; the question was, who would win?

Then Azula really let loose with a blast of fire, he yelped with pain and became way too busy with his captive to worry about the answer to that question.

**Later **

"Katara? Hey, Katara, can you hear me?"

She groaned and pressed her fingertips very gingerly against her head. With her eyes still tightly shut, she replied: "Yeah, I can hear you, Sokka. Please stop talking and get me some water, OK?"

Instead of answering her, he very sensibly moved away, dropping the hand he'd been clutching…wait, if he was gone, then who was clutching her other hand? Her eyes snapped open and she stared up…

…directly into Zuko's relieved face. "Glad you're awake," he whispered, apparently taking her need for silence seriously.

She smiled up at him. Her head still ached, but she could barely feel it over her heart's singing. "I knew you'd come after me!" She reached up for him, pulled him into an embrace right there on the floor and not caring who saw them. "I knew it!"

He held her tightly to him. "Just promise me you'll never do something so…so…boneheaded again!" he whispered into her ear.

Her smile turned mischievous as she gazed up at him. "Sorry, can't," she replied. "And the word you were looking for was 'impulsive', not 'boneheaded,'" she added, then silenced any response he might have tried to offer with a lingering, heartfelt kiss.

When it ended, Zuko's anger had completely drained away. "That's what I missed, your kisses," he murmured.

"What, just my kisses?" Katara scoffed, then offered a melting smile in apology and pressed her lips to his again. "I missed yours, too," she confessed after a long interlude in which tongues had been put to much better use than mere talking.

A loud "AHEM!" from behind them was enough to break the clinch; a red-faced Sokka was standing over them, a bowl of water in one hand and a pitcher in the other. "Yeah, well, here's your water, I gotta go check on Suki," he mumbled, pretty much in one breath. He placed both containers of water on the floor next to them before practically running off. Even his ears were red, Katara noted as she reached gratefully for the water and gloved her hands in order to heal.

Reluctantly, Katara took her brother's interruption as her signal to not only do something about the painful, bloody lump on her head, but to dive back into reality. "Is it safe to assume we won?"

Zuko nodded, his expression turning grim. "Yeah, we won. Only a few casualties on our side, thank Agni, and not too many on their side, either." He glanced down at his bloody blades, apparently knowing exactly what Katara was thinking. "I didn't kill anyone unless they refused to surrender," he replied to her unasked question. "Fortunately your brother had Azula pretty much under control." The corner of his mouth twitched but he didn't allow the grin to emerge. "Until she, you know, set his pants on fire."

Katara stared at him, not sure if he was joking or serious. Thinking back, her brother had been walking kind of funny. And he hadn't asked her to heal him, so it couldn't be that bad. Unless…her eyes widened as she realized just where on his pants Azula had torched him. There was no way he'd ask her to heal him…down there.

Oh, that was nothing to laugh at, but still…her eyes met Zuko's and the laughter erupted from them both, healing laughter they both needed, releasing the post-battle tension.

When their laughter faded, Katara turned her attention to Zuko's wounds, in spite of his insistence that he was fine. She ignored him, of course, and started healing his chin. As she did so, it occurred to her that there were certain members of their band missing, and she steeled herself to ask, trying to keep her tone light. "Where are Toph and Aang? Don't tell me they let you leave them behind!"

Zuko's grim expression softened as he allowed himself to smile at her. "What am I, crazy? No, they're checking out the rest of the manor, rounding everyone up for questioning, separating the soldiers from the servants." His grin broadened. "Toph being able to know when people are lying is coming in really handy; there was even one guard who tried to dress up like a maid to escape being put in the cellar!"

Katara chuckled at the thought, then sobered as the one person she really didn't want to ask about made her presence known. "Let me go, you fools! Don't you know who I am?"

Zuko sighed as his sister continued raving at the top of her lungs. "Toph has my sister encased in stone to just above her knees and to her arms just past the wrists. She can still spit fire but nowhere as much as she could before Aang took her Bending away." His expression hardened. "She's going back to prison, but this time I'll make damned sure she can't hurt anyone else."

"Good," was Katara's brief, but heartfelt, response. She couldn't wish death on anyone, but while part of her was relieved that Zuko hadn't been forced to kill his sister, another part was disappointed. She chided herself for her heartlessness, but still, there it was and it wasn't going away any time soon. She'd last felt it when Aang had managed to defeat Ozai without killing him, and she supposed it was just a character flaw she'd have to live with.

And yet another reason why she and Aang wouldn't have made it as a couple.

Speaking of whom…Aang and Toph entered the room by means of the staircase at the foot of which she, Sokka and Suki had been ambushed. Toph was smirking about something, Aang appeared to be chiding her about it…and she shut him up by doing something neither Katara nor, judging by his wide-eyed reaction, Aang, had been expecting: the blind Earth Bender reached up, grabbed his face in her hands, and kissed him.

Hard.

On the lips.

Like she meant it.

Suddenly the room was silent, even Azula's crazed ravings shut off as abruptly as if someone had slapped a hand over her mouth. And maybe someone had; Katara certainly couldn't tell, since her eyes were still glued to the couple at the foot of the stairs. Who were still kissing. And it wasn't just Toph; Aang's eyes were closed and she could see his hands gripping Toph's shoulders, as if he'd started to push her away but changed his mind.

"Whoa. Didn't see THAT coming."

Sokka, of course, putting into words what everyone in the room was thinking.

* * *

_A/N: Well, it has been a while, but here it is, the penultimate chapter. Possibly. It might be the pre-penultimate chapter, depending on whether or not I need to write one last chapter before the 3-year time jump for the epilog. If you liked it, review it! If you didn't like it, PM me and we'll thrash it out in private! Whatever. I'm sorry for the lengthy delays, especially since I started out so well as far as posting this saga went. But when I thought I was almost finished, Mai overreacted, then Azula muscled her way in, and, well, the rest, as they say, is (pseudo)history. Later, ya'll!_


	23. Every Little Kiss

**Part Twenty-Three: Every Little Kiss**

It was almost anticlimactic, returning to the palace with their prisoners in tow. The soldiers and servants had been sorted out, the innocent allowed to return to their homes or come back with them to the capital as they chose, the guilty divested of arms and armor and locked up in temporary cells that Toph cheerfully Bent from the metal decking of the airships.

The trip passed swiftly since everyone was busy with various tasks Zuko set them to. Aang had once again removed Azula's Firebending, although that seemed to also take away any vestige of sanity she retained. There was nothing Katara could do for her, and no one would ever dare to risk a Mind Healer near her again, even under close supervision.

Even with Aang in the room, which he offered as soon as they reached the palace. "Don't just lock her up in a cell, Zuko, we have to try and help her," he argued as Zuko resolutely marched down the hall to his private office. The room where he'd almost lost his life to a jealous girlfriend. One of his sister's closest friends; he should have remembered that, not been swayed by the fact that Mai had allowed herself to be imprisoned rather than betray him to Azula.

Just as he should have known better than to try and help his sister. When had she ever done anything except ridicule, manipulate and betray him? When he tried to explain that to Aang, all the Avatar did was look at him with those puppy eyes and ask: "But what if we can really make her better, heal her?"

"Get her back to the way she was?" Zuko growled, trying to tone down the mockery in his voice, the frustration and guilt he was feeling, to no avail.

Aang flinched back as if Zuko had struck him. "I just want to help," he mumbled, then turned in defeat when the Fire Lord asked him through gritted teeth to just let it go.

Zuko stared at the closed door. It was his turn to flinch when he felt a hand on his shoulder; he'd forgotten that Katara was there. "He means well," she said softly.

Zuko covered her hand with his own. "I know. But I also know there's nothing we can do for my sister. She was a lost cause before she went out of her mind. Crazy can be cured; evil, not so much." He scowled up at her. "Speaking of which…"

"Who was evil enough to help her escape?" Katara finished for him. She sighed, her shoulders slumping at the thought of what they were about to face. "I guess we know the answer to that question."

A grim nod was her response as Zuko slipped his arm around her waist.

Katara sighed again. "Well, I guess we'd better get it over with." She squeezed him with one arm, then gently pulled away. "We'd better go see you father."

**oOo**

Prisons creeped Katara out, big time. Especially Fire Nation prisons. Aside from the Boiling Rock, which Zuko was in the process of decommissioning, the one housing the former Fire Lord was the grimmest, most secure place in the world.

Supposedly.

Of course, if their suspicions were correct, if somehow he was behind Azula's escape, if he was manipulating things even from prison, the obvious question was what to do about it. She knew Zuko was thinking about that very thing as they headed down the cold, stone staircase that led to the deepest levels of the prison. She kept her own thoughts to herself; now wasn't the time to ask for a lesson in How To Handle Really Big, Painful Decisions.

Even if she was going to be Fire Lady in three years.

She repressed a shiver at the thought. The events of the last few months had almost overshadowed that really scary truth she'd been avoiding thinking about. Especially by doing bone-headed things like going after Sokka and Suki on her own and having to be rescued by Zuko. If she was going to help rule a nation, she was really going to have to work on her impulsiveness.

Not that Zuko was saying anything; except for sort of chastising her when they'd first met up he hadn't said a word about her reckless behavior. No, she was doing all the beating up about that on her own, inside her own head, and at the worst possible times. Like when she and Zuko were about to confront his father, to see if he was behind Azula's escape.

"Focus, Katara," she muttered to herself. Now was certainly not the time to be either fretting over past mistakes or worrying about the future.

Without looking back or breaking stride, Zuko reached for her hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze. Katara squeezed back, then let go as they reached the foot of the staircase they'd been traversing. The narrow, dark, steep, dank, creepy staircase that led to the deepest levels of the prison, where Ozai had been condemned to live out the remainder of his days in solitary confinement for the crimes of attempted genocide, attempted murder of the Avatar and countless others, and numerous other crimes Katara hadn't quite forgotten but certainly couldn't enumerate without looking at the original document that spelled each and every one out in excruciating detail.

He deserved the punishment he'd been meted. Katara nodded to herself, jutting out her chin defiantly as she, Zuko and their entourage of guards rounded the final corner leading to Ozai's prison cell. And if he was responsible for siccing his crazy daughter on them again, then he deserved to be further punished.

"We're here."

Katara blinked and looked around. While she'd been lost in her Zuko-like brooding, they'd arrived at their destination.

They were standing in front of a heavy metal door with a small barred grate at about head-height, if you were about a foot taller than Katara currently stood. Zuko waited patiently while one of the guards who met them unlocked the door and opened it for them, standing aside respectfully while Zuko and Katara swept past him.

The entered an antechamber to the actual cell. Katara knew the last time Zuko had been here had been to interrogate his father as to his mother's actual fate, although he'd learned exactly nothing. Ozai had been absolutely unwilling to offer up any information on his wife's whereabouts, other than confirming that yes, she was still alive. Even with the offer of being moved to an island prison where he would be allowed to go outdoors hadn't budged him.

Katara's advice at the time had been for Zuko to keep trying. "One day, after he's been here longer, he might change his mind," she'd counseled.

Maybe today would be that day. Or maybe today would be the day that Zuko rescinded the offer, if he was convinced his father had indeed been the one behind Azula's escape. One more door and she'd find out one way or another.

She realized something was wrong when she saw the two guards stationed inside the antechamber slumped to the floor. She started to rush forward to check on them only to be stopped by Zuko's hand on her arm. "Don't."

She turned to glare up at him, only to falter when she saw the expression on his face. "It's too late." He nodded at the bodies.

She looked again, then turned her head away as she realized they were dead, lying in pools of their own blood. She smelled it now, the stink of death in the small chamber, then forced herself to look back down as one of their escort moved forward and turned them over on their backs to reveal the manner of their deaths: their throats had been slit.

Katara couldn't help the small cry that escaped her throat at the sight, and buried her head in Zuko's shoulder. He pulled her tightly against him while issuing orders for two of the six men escorting them to find the warden, then ordered one of the remaining men to search for the keys to his father's cell.

He stood by, steely eyed, as Katara composed herself and the keys were found. The guard who had rolled the bodies over stood by, sword in hand, while his compatriot unlocked the door that led to the cell. As soon as the heavy steel door was opened he strode into the room while Zuko released Katara and followed, flames licking around his clenched fists.

Katara knew she should follow him, but couldn't bring herself to do so. Whatever waited in that next room, it wasn't something she wanted to see.

It seemed like forever before Zuko reemerged, but it could only have been a few minutes. She gazed at him, unable to ask the questions that were clogging her throat, knowing that whatever he'd found hadn't been good judging by the even grimmer expression on his face. "Zuko?" she finally managed, hating how small her voice sounded in the gloomy darkness.

When Zuko finally spoke, he sounded more tired than anything else.

"He's dead. Looks like poison, probably suicide."

**oOo**

Katara shouldn't have been surprised at how quickly the news spread, but she still was. As soon as she and Zuko returned to the palace, Aang was at their side to offer his condolences, and the Protocol Minister was respectfully asking if any type of mourning should be observed and Iroh was standing silently by in his usual supportive manner.

Zuko brushed them all off and headed for his private office without saying a word. In fact, he hadn't spoken since announcing his father's death in the prison, even when he and Katara were alone together on the ride back. She hesitated a split second before following him into his office and closing the door behind them.

Zuko looked up, saw Katara standing there, and allowed a brief smile to lighten his grim expression. Everyone else knew to just leave him the hell alone, but not her.

Good.

He reached for her, and she was in his arms, holding him, murmuring unheard words softly into his ear as he just let himself enjoy the moment. He allowed her to babble on for a long time before silencing her with a tender kiss.

When the kiss ended, he smiled down at her sadly. His father's actions had been the last straw; Zuko knew what he had to do, no matter how painful it might be for Katara, no matter how it tore at his heart to do so. His family was certifiable, not just crazy but evil, and it had to end with him.

"I love you," he said to her. "I love every little kiss we share, every embrace, how strong you are, even how impulsive you are, you know that, don't you?"

Katara offered a wary smile in response. "Of course I do, you've never let me forget it, not for a minute since we've been together." Her smile vanished. "So why does it feel like you're trying to say goodbye?"

Zuko released his hold on her, moving slowly to sit behind his desk, crossing his legs as he settled into the comfortable floor pillow that served as a chair. "Because I am. Did I mention how smart you are?"

Instead of freaking out or crying or yelling at him, Katara moved with equal deliberation to perch on the edge of the low desk next to him, curling her legs under her and leaning on one had so their faces nearly met. "Yup, smart enough to know this was coming. I could see it in your eyes, Zuko; you think you're saving me from marrying into the craziest family in the world. You're afraid any children you have—we have," she corrected herself with a blush, "would end up as evil or crazy as your father and sister. Am I right?"

"On the nose," he admitted, not bothering to hide his admiration from either his voice or expression. Calling Katara smart wasn't just flattery; he meant every word and loved her even more for anticipating his decision. "So you understand, even though it really sucks…"

"Oh, I understand," she replied with an airy wave of her hand. She leaned forward and planted a firm, no-nonsense kiss on his lips. "It's not happening, that's all."

It was Zuko's turn to offer a wary expression in response to her words. "What's not happening?"

"The whole you breaking up with me to spare me the pain and agony of finding out one day that you're just as crazy and evil as the rest of your family," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Oh, except for your Uncle Iroh. He may be crazy about tea, but that's about as far as crazy goes with him."

Zuko pretended to consider her words carefully, but his heart was pounding in his chest and he couldn't stop the goofy grin from spreading over his face as he spoke. "True enough."

"And there's your mother, of course, she wasn't crazy and evil, was she?" Katara was managing to keep her face completely serious, but Zuko could sense the cracks. His own smile only grew as she schooled her features into a mock-glare.

"She did kill my grandfather," he pointed out,

"So your father claims," Katara rebutted as a smile of her own tried to make its escape. She tamped down on it with only marginal success. "And we know how good his word is. Was."

The lighthearted moment ended with that word, and she reached out and took Zuko's hand in her own. "Zuko, I'm sorry your father killed himself before telling you anything about your mother. And I'm sorry because he _was_ your father and you loved him once. But those are the _only_ reasons I'm sorry," she added, her lips thinning in remembered anger. "I'm not sorry he's out of our lives; he _was_ evil and crazy, and so is your sister, but that doesn't mean you'll ever turn out like them. So no, I won't let you break up with me for my own good. We're getting married in three years, buster, whether you like it or not."

She jutted her chin out defiantly with those last words, and Zuko's grin, which had vanished during her speech, reappeared, along with a delighted laugh.

He swept her onto his lap and held her close. "Fine, whatever you want. I can't argue with you anymore."

"Good," Katara managed before her lips were otherwise occupied for a delightfully long period of time.

**oOo**

"Well? What happened?" Sokka whispered from his spot just to the left of the door.

"What do you think happened, Snoozles?" Toph replied in a normal tone of voice while Suki giggled silently behind one hand. The other was occupied with holding firmly to one of Sokka's arms to keep him from barging into the room as he'd originally wanted to do and make Zuko wasn't doing something stupid like break up with Katara.

"Did he try to break up with her or what?" he demanded, still in a whisper. An aggravated whisper, but still, a whisper.

"They couldn't hear us right now if we were marching around banging a gong," Toph replied. "Too busy making out."

"Ugh!" Sokka replied, causing Suki's giggles to double. "That's totally not what I wanted to hear!"

"Then you shouldn't have asked," Toph snapped. "You wanted to know if he was trying to break up with her; yeah, he was. But she didn't let him, so things are hunky-dory again, wedding as planned in three years, blah, blah, blah. Satisfied?"

Suki leaned forward and kissed Sokka's cheek. "You heard Toph, sweetie. They're fine. No break up today. Can we go now?"

Sokka cast one last, reluctant look at the door before allowing Suki to pull him down the hall. He wasn't exactly keen on his sister's relationship with Zuko, but if anyone had the right to end things, it was Katara.

After all, three years was a long time. A lot of things could change in three years. Meanwhile, he'd just relax, as Suki had been urging him, and see how things shook out.

* * *

_A/N: And there it is, the penultimate chapter of this series. Next up: The epilogue, three years in the future. What will have changed, who will be together? Stay tuned, same bat-time, same bat-channel!_


	24. Epilogue: Lost Forever In Your Kiss

**Epilogue: Lost Forever In Your Kiss**

"One thing's for sure; Sparky sure knows how to throw a party."

Toph was "looking" around the room, bare feet firmly planted on the cool tile floor, a glass of something alcoholic that she'd filched in one hand and her other firmly clasping Aang's. Her voice practically oozed satisfaction, and why shouldn't it? After all, she'd just won a bet three years in the making, although at this point, Sokka had to admit he didn't mind paying up.

It was his sister's wedding day. She and Zuko had vowed to love each other for eternity, to care for the Fire Nation as if it were there own child (which line had every single one of their non-Fire Nation friends rolling their eyes), and to keep each other safe from harm, among other things. Sokka had sorta let his mind glaze over as the Fire Sage droned on and on and on...

He'd made sure to pay close attention, however, when Gran-Gran mounted the low podium on which Katara and Zuko stood. When she gave her blessing to the wedding, the union of Fire Nation and Southern Water Tribe, it wasn't just tradition and page after page of memorized lines; every word was from the heart, and meant as both a blessing and a warning: take care of my granddaughter, or else.

He'd wondered, very briefly, if Zuko was picking up on the subtext of Kanna's speech, but judging by the sharp look he gave her when she finished, he got the message loud and clear.

That one look, however, was the last time Sokka saw Zuko without a huge grin plastered across his face. He and Katara both radiated a happiness that seemed natural on his sister but startled a great many people who thought the Fire Lord's emotions only ranged only from stoic to mildly pleased. When Hakoda shook his hand after the ceremony and called him "son," welcoming him to the family, those who didn't know him well would have been further startled to see the gleam of tears in the younger man's eyes.

A whole lot of people got teary eyed, in fact; even stoic Yuri and Kinzo, Katara's personal guards, were spotted openly weeping at the ceremony's conclusion.

Not Sokka, of course; if he was spotted sniffling and wiping his nose surreptitiously on his sleeve, it was because of all the…dust. Yeah. Dust. That was it.

The sound of laughter from the circle of dancers in front of him distracted him and brought a grin to his face. His wife blew him a kiss as she danced by, kicking up her heels and obviously enjoying herself very much. She was surrounded by a group of other Kyoshi Island warriors and a few young Fire Nation men brave enough to join in.

None of them, however, better even think about putting a finger on his wife. He offered up a fearsome scowl to one young guardsman who seemed about to do just that; fortunately for them all, he thought better of the idea and zeroed in on another member of the group instead.

Good. The scowl melted away and a goofy grin spread across his face as he watched her, even as his thoughts wandered the paths that had brought them all to this moment.

Three years had passed since Zuko had tried—and failed—to break up with Katara "for her own good." Three years of change for all of them, some good—like finding Zuko's mother—and some bad.

Like, for example, Sokka breaking up with Suki. That had been a rough time, and although in the end they remained friends, for a while it seemed like that would never be possible. Still, even good came from that eventually, since it was because of that that he finally realized that Ty Lee didn't just have some schoolgirlish crush on him, that she really, truly loved him.

The way he had grown to really, truly love her.

The way Zuko and his sister really, truly loved one another.

That had been a bitter pill to swallow, once he realized that the two of them weren't just infatuated with each other. That their love was the kind that would last. But swallow it he had, and now he was related to the Fire Lord. Weird how life turned out.

Weird, but good. Ty Lee danced up to him as her circle undulated near the edge of the crowd; laughing, he allowed himself to be dragged away from where he'd been lurking near the food.

**oOo**

Katara watched with a fond smile as her brother threw himself enthusiastically into the line of dancers that was weaving its way around the room, hands tightly clasping those of his wife. His marriage to Ty Lee had been unexpected and unconventional, to say the least; the two of them had run off together during a diplomatic mission to the Earth Kingdom and been married by King Bumi himself. Who was currently monopolizing Uncle Iroh in a corner not too far from where Toph and Aang were standing, hand in hand and munching on something that looked vaguely pastry-like from this distance but couldn't be further identified unless she got up and went over to them.

Which she fully intended to do, but not just yet. Right now she was having too good of a time basking in the glow of finally being married to Zuko. Just thinking about it brought a dreamy smile to her lips, and she turned her attention back to her husband.

Her husband. The word sent a pleasant shiver down her spine. Unlike many noble couples, they'd actually agreed to wait until their wedding night to, um…have their wedding night. So as soon as the sky darkened and the last of the official toasts had been raised and speeches made, the two of them would be able to leave the rest of the celebrants and retire to the royal bedchamber and finally make it their own, as husband and wife.

That thought sent another pleasant chill down her spine as well as bringing a heated blush to her cheeks. As if reading her thoughts, Zuko reached over and took her hand in his, stroking her palm with his thumb. She squeezed his fingers in response and turned to drink in the sight of him in his wedding finery.

She spared a moment to wonder if they'd be able to dig each other out of their various layers of clothing without asking for help, then stifled a giggle at the thought that he'd probably just burn them off if he had to.

"What's so funny?" Zuko asked as he leaned closer and lifted her fingers to his lips for a soft, lingering kiss. Nothing undecorous, nothing the crowd couldn't witness, but coupled with the expression of fierce longing in his eyes, enough to bring another blush to Katara's cheeks.

"Just picturing the two of us trying to fight out way out of these ridiculous outfits later on," she replied, pitching her voice so that only he could hear her. She still couldn't get over how bold he made her feel, especially when they were alone together; keeping that "not until we're married" vow had been really, really difficult at times.

But here they were, with only a few measly hours left to wait; then they could spend the rest of their lives together, sleeping in the same bed every night, being together whenever they wanted…well, whenever their responsibilities would allow them, she silently amended.

Zuko gave her a smoldering look. "Just remember, Firebending can come in very handy with stubborn fabric," he replied, just as softly—and exactly as she'd thought he would.

She felt as if she were on fire already, her cheeks flaming and the flush spreading well below her dresses' bodice. But one of the Fire Sages was rising to his feet while a servant rang a small gong; time for part two of what she privately dubbed "The Endless Boring Speeches" part of the day.

Before she could paste her polite smile on her face, Zuko swooped in for a lingering kiss that promised so much and left her nearly breathless. "I love you kissing you," he murmured, touching his forehead to hers when the kiss ended. "I could get lost forever in your kisses."

"Me too," was Katara's inarticulate response, then the crowd finally fell silent, the musicians laid down their instruments, and the second round of speeches began.

Katara spent the entire time in blissful contemplation of her wedding night—and how she planned to spend the rest of her life getting lost in Zuko's kisses as well.

**The End**

* * *

_A/N: I wanted to throw one little curve ball into the fairy-tale ending for my story, which is why Sokka ended up with Ty Lee instead of Suki for his happily-ever-after. Just one last little surprise before saying goodbye. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers for their patience; it's amazing how difficult a silly little epilogue can be to write! Now I can focus on finishing my story "After The Happily Ever After" and, yes, another Zutara story I have in the works but won't post until it's nearly done, called "One Door Closes." Ta!_

Here are the credits for the song titles I used in the story, in case anyone is interested!

(Na Na Hey Hey) Kiss Him Goodbye – Steam

Kiss the Rain – Billie Myers

Kiss Me Deadly – Leeta Ford

Kiss Your Past Goodbye – Aerosmith

It's In His Kiss – Aretha Franklin

Shut Up and Kiss Me – Mary Chapin Carpenter

Sealed With A Kiss – Bobby Vinton

And Then He Kissed Me – The Crystals

Passionate Kisses – Mary Chapin Carpenter

This Kiss – Faith Hill

Kiss and Say Goodbye – The Manhattans

Kiss and Tell – Justin Bieber

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – The Subways

Blowing Kisses In the Wind – Paula Abdul

A Kiss Before Dying – Candlebox

Butterfly Kisses – Bob Carlisle

Dangerous Kisses – E-rotic

Kiss On My List – Hall & Oates

Kiss Me Crazy – Kaci Brown

Unexpected Kiss – Den Kozlov

Kiss Me, Stupid – The Chesterfields

Miss Your Kiss – Chris Rea

Every Little Kiss – Bruce Hornsby & the Range

Lost Forever In Your Kiss – Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton


End file.
